In the hierarchy or pecking order of motorcyclists, there are unwritten rules regarding riding etiquette if you will. It's well known that certain types of riders consider themselves as the real bikers and the rest are squids or newbies or just not cool. I've never quite subscribed to that notion but maybe it's because I ride a do Harley which garners a few more chips on the table than other bikes.
Yesterday, I was riding my friend's 650cc Yamaha in Kihei, HI. Ninety-nine % of the time, I ride with jeans, boots and some kind of jacket and gloves but I had brought absolutely none of that with me so here I was riding a motorcycle with a pair of flowery swim trunks, t-shirt, baseball cap and sneakers. Although I am familiar with the controls, buttons and functions of the bike, it isn't perfect second nature compared to my own. So, just as I was coming out of a parking lot, a pair of real bikers were riding by on a pair of Low Rider Harleys stopped at the light. My left hand instinctively thumbed what would have been the left turn signal on my bike but on the smaller Yamaha, it was the horn button.
When I accidentally blew the horn, the Sons of Hawaii bikers turned to the sound of the "Beeeeeeeeep", stared a second or two then looked back at the road. You could just see the eye roll through their dark glasses. Grateful that they didn't give me one of those one percenter salutes, I rode off in another direction, realizing I had actually been snubbed by what appeared to be a couple of members of the Sons of Hawaii Motorcyle Club.
After fueling up, I rode off through the lush landscaped golf courses and resorts of Wailea toward Makena Landing. Just a few years ago, the development was contained to a tight cluster of hotels and a few high dollar developments but recently, lots of bulldozers have cleared the scrub brush and cleaned off the countryside. This is the area that normally attracts locals and returning visitors who have a respect for the island and are more comfortable enjoying Maui in an unimproved state. They fish, dive, surf and occasionally have a small fire where they cook and eat. Over the past couple of years, there has been somewhat of a battle between recreational service providers and the County of Maui. The county has placed what some would describe as draconian rules and regulations on companies providing surf and diving lessons and equipment which would all but put them out of business. As I rode into Makena Landing, I saw a lot of money being spent on improvements to the area. An owner of the property all around the beach access had cleared the hillside and had million dollar lots for sale all over the place. Makena is being transformed, lot by lot, from a wild natural place to a slick commercial and residential area. Now, I understand why the county had taken the position it has. Developed areas do not need 4 wheel drive trucks, campfires, cheap weddings on the beach and people not spending money there. I've been told, the developer actually owns most of the access to Makena Landing. Just follow the money.
I rode to the end of the road, near La Perouse Bay and as I stopped to take a few pictures, a couple on a Harley and Suzuki stopped and chatted with me for a while. They were the heads of a motorcycle political action group (Street Bikers United of Maui) that united everything from the Sons of Hawaii to the Christian Motorcycle Association. We talked travel and motorcycles for a while, then shook hands and acknowledged the goodness of meeting other riders. I rode back to the house to check on Darlene.
Wooooohooooo........... Ms Darlene and myself are packing the ride headed fo' Nawlins, headed out for Maui and we'll be back in 3 weeks. We'll be staying in Kihei.
If you look at the map of Maui as being a person.....the roundish part on the left being a head...then Kihei is near the Adam's Apple near the 'neck' on the map. Maui is the second largest island in the chain and and older than the big island of Hawaii. If you're really old, you might have also heard of them as the Sandwich Islands. I'll take a shrimp po-boy, please.
If you're nice, we might bring you back a cup of Shave Ice. No, that's not a typo. "Shaved Ice" is a mainlander thing while "shave ice" is the Hawaiian thing and I suppose, Oahu in particular.
This year, when we had to fly into St Louis for our annual meeting, I had to fly Northwest aka Pinnacle Airlines. Really, Northwest Air is irrelevant because it's being gobbled up by the behemoth, Delta Airlines.
Now, I realize there's a guy or two in a cubicle somewhere in Memphis who had to think up new and exciting ways for frequent fliers to feel like they've made the grade but some of the things these guys come up with just seems a tad silly if you ask me.
For instance, just before we were to load the plane in Memphis, the gate attendant marches over to gate and switches the rope from one post to another and announces that Delta Medallion and Northwest Elite fliers could now board via the Breezeway. Basically, the only difference between the Breezeway and any other track was the rug you walked over with 'Breezeway' emblazoned on it.
After a couple of people made their way through the Breezeway, it appeared there were no others qualified for that perk, so she removed the rope so the unwashed not so frequent fliers could board. I looked around to see a few travelers rolling their eyes and giving sheepish grins.
Whatever it takes to add value and importance to a product or service, I guess but I would be just as happy if they saved the expense of buying and cleaning the rug and not charge me $15 for my bag.
One day the old German Shepherd starts chasing rabbits and before long, discovers that he's lost. Wandering about, he notices a leopard heading rapidly in his direction with the intention of having lunch.
The old German Shepherd thinks, 'Oh, no! I'm in deep doo-doo now!' Noticing some bones on the ground close by, he immediately settles down to chew on the bones with his back to the approaching cat. Just as the leopard is about to leap, the old German Shepherd exclaims loudly, 'Boy, that was one delicious leopard! I wonder, if there are any more around here?'
Hearing this, the young leopard halts his attack in mid-strike, a look of terror comes over him and he slinks away into the trees. 'Whew!' says the leopard, 'That was close! That old German Shepherd nearly had me!'
Meanwhile, a monkey who had been watching the whole scene from a nearby tree, figures he can put this knowledge to good use and trade it for protection from the leopard. So, off he goes, but the old German Shepherd sees him heading after the leopard with great speed, and figures that something must be up.
The monkey soon catches up with the leopard, spills the beans and strikes a deal for himself with the leopard.
The young leopard is furious at being made a fool of and says, 'Here, monkey, hop on my back and see what's going to happen to that conniving canine!
Now, the old German Shepherd sees the leopard coming with the monkey on his back and thinks, 'What am I going to do now?', but instead of running, the dog sits down with his back to his attackers, pretending he hasn't seen them yet, and just when they get close enough to hear, the old German Shepherd says... 'Where's that monkey? I sent him off an hour ago to bring me another leopard!'
Moral of this story...
Don't mess with the old dogs... age and skill will always overcome youth and treachery! BS and brilliance only come with age and experience.
Of course, I am in no way insinuating that any of you are old, some are just more 'youthfully challenged'.
The pastor's sermon Saturday afternoon dealt with people who were often alone even when in a crowd. Ironically, I had just had that discussion with Darlene the morning before that so Pastor Dino's message was pretty much a confirmation as if it was for me personally. Not that it's a life altering situation, it's just how some people are wired. However, we are designed to overcome certain things that can prevent us from growing even as we get older.
Taking that in mind, I decided to join a group ride to New Orleans from the Harley shop in Baton Rouge, Sunday. Typically, when I'm in a crowd, I smile a bunch, shake a few hands and promptly forget any name given, but yesterday I genuinely made an effort to be get to know some folks but when you're on a relatively loud Harley, there ain't a whole lot of conversation that's going to happen.
We fired up at 9 AM and rode down old River Road through Geismar, Burnside, Convent, Kenner and stopping a couple of times before eventually arriving at the New Orleans Fairgrounds where we had an awful buffet lunch. The trip there, in it's self, was an effort in dealing with 50 riders with 50 different riding styles but we were blessed with no incidents or accidents. Everyone was friendly enough but alas, I forgot (I told you I would forget them) the names of everybody I met except for a couple of the guys I hooked up with on the way back as we detoured around Lakeshore and the New Orleans Yacht Club.
I'm looking forward to doing that again and maybe I can get to know them a little better next time.
Leaving Darlene in dreamland with the coffee pot on auto pilot, I fired Boudreau up relatively early at the crack of dawn to go to a men's bible study at Frank's this morning. Aside from that, everything else was pretty much a worthless day except for a few miles and a tank of gas. This is one of my first 'official' vacation days I've taken this year so I took off with my trusty camera just to take pictures and ride my bike.
Going down River Road, I stopped off at a local tourist trap near Sorrento where there's a fenced off area behind old houses that make up the village. Behind a 6 foot heavy duty chain link fence, there's an alligator or two that hang out waiting on a daily ration of a whole chicken. There's not much motivation for them to wander off because the eating is good and I suppose the nuisance level is pretty low too. He must have been around 10 feet long. Just take my word for it because I wasn't about to stroll out there with a yardstick to see how long his tail was. They may not have fed it the chicken for the day.
The fall flowers were out and so were the bees, hornets and mosquitoes. On this photo of the berry, you can make out my image reflecting on the skin of the berry.
A ride down old Airline Highway toward Gramercy had me getting off the bike to see what I could see in the water. I noticed a crab swimming at the top and occasionally flicking water with it's claw.
Looking at a cabin across the barr pit, I remember years ago traveling along Highway 61 and seeing small houseboats lining the banks for miles. Here's one of the last hold outs for cabins.
As I was taking the picture of the crab, a young woman came across on her small personal ferry and crawled into a Bayou Beater (maybe a 15 year old Nissan) apparently headed to work. I would have figured it occupied by some old crusty fellow like myself. Notice the satellite receiver to the left of the to the building. Sounds kind of romantic in a way but a 'Tammy', she wasn't. Bless her heart, she was probably scrounging for every dime just to make a living but at least she is working.....she's a real kind of girl.
Spending the weekend with my mother, we talked about her keeping the place up, winter coming on, etc. She stays pretty active with a fairly large place to keep up. Her complaints usually include keeping the battery up on the pick-up truck and how the grass grows so quickly.
She had a man come by to cut some wood for her early so it could dry a bit before winter. Although he split much of it, there were some pieces she felt was too large for the fireplace, so she set out to split it on her own.
One log in particular wouldn't seem to split so she inserted a wedge in the crack of it and began to hammer it down with the butt end of a single bit axe. After a few mighty swats, the axe broke. I guess they don't make them like they used to.
In defense of the axe, it was an axe that my grandfather had and probably well over a hundred years old. Mama is only 87.
OK, OK, I know. I've been hiding for a year on this blog. Maybe I've been in a funk, a mental block or whatever. One thing may be that I destroyed my 'good' camera and haven't had the drive to send out photos and tales. The last time I posted, Darlene and I were still in the 'Maui' mode.
For a while, I thought I had some kind of entitlement to states with palm tree in them.
Also, I've been in a new phase at work, flitting from one short term location to another. Over the past year, I've been in Arkansas, Kansas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Connecticut, Florida, a couple of shots at Texas and a couple more in Louisiana. My bags are worn out.
Feeling like Magnum P.I......not really...but hey, it's a theme. We've been here on Maui for a couple of weeks already, in the home of friends who are off gallivanting somewhere in Indonesia. When they left, they tossed us the keys to the truck, house and gave us the run of everything. So in a sense, I feel like Tom Selleck's Magnum P.I. from the television series 25 years ago, only this time instead of a really handsome hunk, you get me. Actually, I have more in common with the likes of Higgins than Magnum but we're digressing here.
Instead of an exotic sports car, Rachel handed over the keys to her Yamaha V Star. So after several days of diving, I took her motorcycle for a partial tour of Maui. I'm sure all the motorcycle gurus would absolutely freak out that I wore no helmet, gloves, leather jacket or steel toed boots but instead, sneakers, baseball cap and T shirt. A couple of the pictures were taken while on the move. Honest, officer. I wasn't texting.
It's been several years since I've owned a smaller motorcycle but the 650 cc engine did just fine with me. It took a little while to get used to not having that low end torque my Harley has and the Yamaha's ever so quite mufflers felt a little strange but it truly was a fun ride.
I'm a bit lazy, so all these pictures were taken with my Instinct cell phone camera and were uploaded to Photobucket as I rode around. Here are a few pictures on the south side of the island so they are not the quality I might have from my digital SLR.
Panoramic Upcountry view looking west toward Lanai.
The rest are on the road to Makena Landing and La Perouse Bay. Okay, I realize I haven't added any pictures of Darlene, fish, bikinis or various serpents, but the soul intent of this post was for my third passion....motorcycles. SCUBA and photography being the other two.
After my ride, I came home and waited for Darlene to return from her favorite beach. When she arrived, she jumped on the back and we rode double down the beach road and around town for a spell. Ah, to be 21 again. Out near Ahihi Preserve.
OK, that's about it for the motorcycle stuff. I'll post some diving and fish stuff in a later post.
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C R Albritton
All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. ~ J R R Tolkien
Thanks
Hi, I'm C R and thanks for the visit. I travel quite a bit and hopefully, this way, I can give you some photos and tales of my travels without you having to download them all.
Living on the road over 300 days a year absolutely destroys many a road warrior's dietary discipline.
Here's a few things I believe are detrimental to you and avoiding them are helpful in the prevention of packing on the pounds.
1. If your restaurant features some kind of stylized figure or cartoon character as it's logo or spokes person, don't go there, you can gain two pounds just by watching the commercial.
2. If your restaurant has a lighted sign on a pole and colored with yellow, red and blue, don't go there. You're a victim of subliminal advertising. Those colors crank your appetite into high gear.
3. Watch the other patrons. If more than half of them can be can be classified as overweight, fat, obese or morbidly obese, don't go there. You are who you associate with and misery loves company.
4. If your waitress delivers you two plates for you to serve yourself, don't go there. Buffet lines tend to make you want to "get your money's worth".
5. If your restaurant always has a cashier that can't operate the register and has to punch the pictures on the keyboard, don't go there. He or she wouldn't be able to spell cholesterol anyway.
6. If your restaurant asks you not to place the plastic trays in the garbage, don't go there. At least a tip isn't involved.
7. If you can't understand your waiter because the cars behind you drown out the speaker on the sign, don't go there.
8. If you find yourself humming the jingle of your restaurant, don't go there.
9. If you saw the restaurant's logo on the side of a truck and trailer on the interstate, don't go there.
10. If you know the menu by number and "super-size" is part of it, don't go there.
11. Finally, don't order diet beverages. Only fat people drink them.
Good advice, I think. Do I live by these words of caution, oh heck no! I fight the pounds like everybody else but I do believe that obesity is associated with these foods.
there are unwritten rules regarding riding etiquette if you will. It's well known that certain types of riders consider themselves as the real bikers and the rest are squids or newbies or just not cool. I've never quite subscribed to that notion but maybe it's because I ride a do Harley which garners a few more chips on the table than other bikes.
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