A SURPRISE SOJOURN

Puffin Sunrise
Originally uploaded by abstract_effects.

I enjoyed an unplanned ride to the coast for dinner with my cousin this evening. By 6 pm, when I was able to motor, the late day sun still burned hot and bright, and a large rising moon pulled me east for an hour's cruise to the Atlantic shore.

The ocean was unusually calm, almost still. Tiny waves, too small for even a squirrel to surf, lapped lazily onto the sandy beach. They made no sound. Gulls darted here and there.

I pulled into the parking lot at Ron's Landing. A large sign said "Valet Parking Only," but motorcycles are immune from such things. "Park your bike wherever you like," said the friendly young man in the white valet uniform. "Thank you," I replied.

Dennis soon arrived on his Harley. We dined upstairs in the perfectly air conditioned lounge where we spoke with a number of the diners, each with a different story to tell. A fellow from Alabama made us laugh when he chided the bartender by telling her that she "was as crazy as a lab rat." I whispered to Dennis, "I always thought it was the lab technicians that were crazy, not the rats."

By 8 dinner was done and it was time for a gentle sunset ride home. Daylight faded to a gloaming in the west and my beautiful moon was at my side.

She stayed with me all the way home. Thank you Moon for being there for me.