I told my boss: the 1st 70 degree day of the year he would not see me. When such a day seemed certain on the calendar I confirmed, and ditched work. I shared this on Facebook, and people were all over my ass. “Must be nice to have no responsibilities, loser@!”; “Must be nice to be able to ditch all your responsibilities!” Ok, so, I have two kids and while Mrs. Roadrunner is extremely chill I can’t just disappear as I please. Seriously folks, if you see someone taking off on a weekday, maybe assume they have cleared it with their work and family and not that they are some independently wealthy dipshit.
I needed a mental health day, and I knew some people who surely did too. My friend Harley Curtis answered the call. He showed up at Payne Manor at 8:15 am and we got ready to ride.
I got us lost, we got it figured out, we ate miles towards our destination, we didn’t exchange more than a couple of words until we were sitting down at Fort Mulligan’s in Prarie du Chien, Wisconsin. Then we talked. Work. Family. Bikes.
Isn’t it funny how that works? Bikers meet each other and don’t talk until 4 hours down the road. Bikers understand the value of clearing out your head and then talking to a trusted brother about what’s going on.
I picked Prarie du Chien because I didn’t feel like putting on heated gear and heading to The Hurricane Highway. I also didn’t bring a real fucking camera. But I did take a couple of pictures of a really cool town on the Great River Road. It wasn’t an Iron Butt day, but a 380 mile day in April in Wisconsin is a rare treat. I was able to shed 3 layers as the day grew much warmer than predicted. I came home and grilled for my family, and I went back to work the next day with a clear head.
two wheeled thoughts 