Chapter 2 - The Great Brown

*** continued from previous post  ***

Chapter 2

The Great Brown

Frozen.  

That's what I was.  Frozen.  

You think I jest.  T'was a sad sight, watching your poor old father shiver and shake as I scooped slush off the windshield of the bike.  Why the hell don't you ever see a motorcycle with wipers?  That's what I'd like to know.

Oh yeah.  Not supposed to ride a bike in the snow.  That’s why.

We pushed on.  Down.  Down.  Down.  Away from the snow and the cold and the grey sullen skies of our homeland.   

I could go into great detail describing to you how I shredded the twisties as we descended the east side of the Cascades and navigated those rare and beautiful miles into the tiny burg of Naches.  But I won't.  I'll spare you the minutiae of each turn of the tire, each apex, each rise of the blacktop.  I shall resist the urge to create a lyrical ballad - an ode to the pines and the rivers and the wondrous, wondrous curves. 

Let's just say if the road and I were both doing time in prison by the time we arrived at the bottom I could have traded it for smokes.  

Oh stop cringing.  I thought that image rather clever.  You're a Navy girl.  Suck it up.

The temperature inched steadily upward as the day progressed from early to mid-morning.  Steadily and rapidly.  Really rapidly.  Climbing faster than a helium balloon escapes a toddler's sticky fist at the zoo.  Not that it made much difference.  My core was hovering somewhere between Minot, ND in January and the McMurdo Station in . . . well, pick a month.  August will do.  I had a ways to go before I would be warm again - if ever.  And miles to go before I sleep but that's a different story entirely.  

For a moment there I seriously considered setting myself on fire.  I reasoned that it probably wouldn't be that bad, and I could more than likely put it out before I incurred too much damage.  You know, finding the sweet-spot wherein the fire had warmed me enough that I could taste again, but right before I entered the burnt-marshmallow stage.  

*** the journey continues tomorrow ***