Can you see the moon? It was beautiful tonight. That's why I stopped - I thought I'd get a picture of the bike with the moon in the background. The picture - as always - doesn't do it justice. That little white circle up in the sky is the moon ...looked better in real life.
So, there I was taking pictures along the side of the road when I saw an old car out of the corner of my eye. Didn't think much of it at first. Then I heard a voice. I looked up and the young guy was sticking his head out the window of his 1970's era car yelling at me. Well, not yelling at me. More like loudly trying to communicate with me. With my helmet on I could not hear what he was saying. Took the helmet off and kinda had that "Dude, your ruining my moment with the moon" feeling ...you know the one.
Then I thought to myself "Hey, pull your head out of you ass and listen to the guy!" I was thinking that maybe he had something interesting to say. I mean he didn't seem menacing or anything.
"You want to ride up to the top of the mountain? ...you'll get a better picture up there" At this point I figured either this guy is really nice to strangers ...or I am about to die like a character in a bad Deliverance knock off. Common sense said to say "thanks, but no thanks! ..preciate it though". What I said was more like "Err ...umm ...welll ...yeah, maybe." he said to come on up if I wanted to.
He drove up to a driveway and disappeared up a hill. After a few minutes, I figured what the hell, and headed up his drive way ...past multiple "No Trespassing" and "Posted" signs welcoming me to the property. The driveway was sort of gravel, but it looked more like coal cinders, it was totally black. I am not sure what I was expecting, but when I got to the top of the hill I saw that the driveway dropped back down to an old trailer home ...old ...real old ...Deliverance-esque in stature. Beside it was parked the 1970's era car, a four wheeler, and various odds and ends strewn around. But no dude.
I was just about to turn around and head out when out walked the dude ...with a rifle in his hand. Oh my God, is this really happening? I've had a good old boy point a rifle at me once before - didn't really care for it so much. At least this guy, the dude, was not pointing it at me. But it was none-the-less a little surreal. I can't really give you a real feeling of what the dude's place really looked like. Let's just say his lovely estate was a great example of a southern stereotype in the flesh. I felt like I was watching a movie ...or more like I was in a movie. Strange feeling.
Then he waved at me. Hmm ...he's still friendly. For a moment I had thought that he hadn't recognized me as the guy with the green motorcycle that he spoke to 3 minutes prior. But, really, how many big green dual sports does this guy see in a day. He remembered me.
Put his rifle in the gun rack on his four wheeler and drove it up to where I was waiting ...umm ...to be shot and killed. But, alas, it was not to be. They guy, the dude, was really nice. I mean he didn't say much, but he said I could follow home up to the top of the mountain because a picture of my bike in the woods would look better. So, he took off on his four wheeler and me on my KLR. It got steep and rutty fast ...and I beeped my little horn and bailed. Turned around. Left. The trail was just too steep and rutted for me - having just stared riding a month ago after a 30 year break, I figured I was making a good decision. Also, the sun was setting.
I do kinda wonder how it looked from the top of the mountain ...and just for the record, the dude was just being friendly in a "out in the country" kind of way. The only place I was in danger was in my head. My head can be a scary place.
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