Riding at Sun Down
Often, I feel a sudden burst of mortal awareness as the sun nears the horizon. The end of something. Or perhaps the beginning. Life with the lizard brain is never easy to predict or understand — just relentless in it’s march of survival and desire.
I look to the sky whenever I feel stifled or trapped by a mind refusing to disconnect from the trials of a day. The tapestry of clouds and light kindled a need for the camera and a desire to go for a ride. Even a short journey through familiar ground.
A short time on the road. Evening riding.
Pausing on the approach to the expressway to make a photograph I wondered at the longing for rest as I looked at the open sky. Riding, the Vespa is my counselor, questioning and directing a conversation no one can hear. It’s why I ride.
Flying the Expressway
Odd choice to ride on the expressway. It was the fastest route to what big sky we have; glimpses of what the landscape is like in the flatlands. Open and looking at heaven.
And then a monster roars by. The modern era bear or Tyrannosaurus. It’s hard to dismiss the destructive power of a large truck hurtling just a feet away. A potential embrace too awful to imagine.
Yet I continue to ride.
And enjoy it.
The joy of evening riding.
Great description of passing trucks on the highway…..the oncoming roar of their tires rubbing on the pavement, the blast of wind that both pushes and pulls at you, the occasional feeling that they intentionally didn’t move over to give you some more room….
The big trucks can really beat the scooter around, especially at speeds over 60mph where it’s already windy. Those are days I love exiting the freeway to ride more pastoral routes.
Steve, your experience:
it was a sunset, just not your (as in final) sunset.
Especially with that closely-enroaching multi-wheeled
rubber tyred monster.
A wandering mind comes up with a lot of meaning in simple things like a sunset. Or the rubber tyred monster. Can’t get used to that spelling. I’m still struggling with colour…
Ride on forever.
Brent
Thanks Brent! You too!!
The expressways, beautiful in many respects as they wind through the countryside under huge skies, can become a battle of concentration to the extent that one misses their surroundings surrendering to the long grey line ahead and those deadly monsters.
As Bryce iterated it was just another sunset…
That is why we have country lanes, villages, coffee and doughnuts and MotoHangs.
Always thankful for your musings.
“That is why we have country lanes, villages, coffee and doughnuts and MotoHangs.”
Those are the things that make riding special for me. Though I’ve not had a doughnut for a year now. And a new doughnut place just opened a couple miles up the road.
I dont fly my own flyin machine anymore, and a ride on I-99 to Bellwood sure feels right when traffic is light
I-99 can be a wonderful road with light traffic. On a ride down into Maryland and West Virginia to went on that road. Almost empty early that morning. Here’s a link to an I99 portrait.