My dog looks into me and asks why?

At least that’s what I see as I gear up for a ride.  He’s witnessed the process many times and still he watches as if with new eyes.  There’s a great language in the eyes and though I’m not always an accomplished reader I recognize the power they contain.

When the ride is sweetest, I see the world with new eyes.

Often I feel something before I see it.

I’ll be roaming on the scooter, eyes scanning the road ahead, behind, the landscape through which I’m traveling and I’ll feel a sudden attraction to a place before I recognize a specific scene or subject.  It happens more often in nature than riding through man made places.

This morning I parked the Vespa so I could wander through the woods.  In a few days hunters will search for deer as I was looking for something different and while I found nothing I sensed how I was seeing a familiar place with new eyes.

Whatever that means.

If I love exploring the road on the Vespa.

But I may appreciate even more the unbinding of my mind made possible by the act of riding.For anyone who lets their mind wander you may appreciate how wildly afield thoughts can range and imagination subdues logic as new connections surface.

Looking at the trees and listening to the water the words “forest primeval” whispered in my head.  The camera wasn’t helping and I wasn’t writing or taking notes, just looking, as if with new eyes.  Only later during the ride at a stop to buy Kim a birthday present did the words take on meaning as Dan Fogelberg’s song “Longer” play in my head and those words took on meaning.  It wasn’t our song or anything but somehow my brain put it all together.  Maybe the forest was reminding me of what to get her.

Her gift does have a forest theme.

There is no destination.

Most of the morning was spent meandering along the gravel mountain roads enjoying the mild weather and letting my mind follow along as it would.  If my clumsy attempt at description seems to imply a measure of control, especially over my mind, believe me when I say I have little control over where it goes.

And that’s fine.

What am I seeing with new eyes?

As the daylight faded and my eyes wandered over the graying texture of the evening sky I thought about how simple life can seem.  The camera can reduce a confusion place midst confusing ideas to a simple composition that belies any truth of a moment and denies the absolute mystery of what we experience.

I look at selfie pictures sometimes and wonder what I’m seeing.  Some, many, seem superficial artifacts that are nothing more that mechanical documentation of a moment with no meaning or mystery.  And then there are others where the eyes burn in me and through me causing some measure of visceral discomfort as they seek answers to questions that I didn’t ask.  The eyes are at work.

Rides on these kind of days are work.

The day ends as does the ride.

The eyes are tired as is the body.  The Vespa is safe in the garage as the world fades to black.  I don’t pretend to be enlightened or improved by the experiences riding provides.  I recognize things happen and I embrace them as I can.  Kim says I seem more relaxed than I used to be before I started riding.  Maybe the mental gymnastics have a calming effect.

Or maybe I’m just more content when I can see the world over and over again with new eyes.