Darkness at the edge of town

The last few nights have been cool.  Kimmie and I take the long way home each time, letting the darkness envelops us.  I like to ride at night, even though my visibility is reduced and  I can see the small white tail deer grazing silently on the side of the road at times.  What should be familiar takes on odd and threatening shapes.  I think of our ancestors of million years ago, knowing that dangers stalked the night; a fear of the dark is not a bad thing.  It's a survival instinct...we really don't know what is out there.

It's late, later than I normally ride home but I've been feeling good.  Kimmie purrs like days of old and I lean easily into the turns, the only light from her and a storm gathering far off.  Heat lighting has filled the sky the last few nights.  At a stoplight I hear the noise of the night birds, soft and lilting.

Off in the distance on another night, clear of clouds, I see the red flame of a meteor as it makes it way to the Atlantic...it glows like a cigarette tip in the sky before breaking up.  I sit and watch it in the middle of the street, partially amazed and partially quietly engaging my scientific mind.   I think about angles, about velocity and about how far and long that piece of rock must of traveled to find itself here.  Burning up so a lone biker in the middle of Florida could look up in wonder.

It's later now.  I still have some way to go. I curse myself for not pulling out my phone, so I could have caught the last moments of this glorious rock to share.  There are no other cars out, I pull out and head through town.  Past the shuttered buildings of downtown Zephyrhills.  I take a turn and the light from a building bleeds out into the street.  It's not a comforting light and somehow seems out of place here.

For several nights in a row I consider riding on.  The days have been hot and muggy but the nights are anything but, and as I flip up my visor I can sense a change in the air.  The endless possibility of summer and the open road.

This is what I love about biking.  I don't have a radio to distract me.  I don't have a phone ringing or the endless whistle of a text message.  I just have the sky to distract me.

I have to remind myself that watching the heat lightening while traveling on an empty road in the middle of the night is not a good thing.  Still though, that storm could be 100 miles away and it's power and beauty attract me like a flame attracts a moth.

I wake up early in the morning with only one desire.  To ride in the cool morning air and I try to dress without waking Susan.  Then I'm off, riding the roads that surround my house, riding with no destination or purpose.  A few hours later the heat of day grows, the thunderstorms move in again...and I wonder if I'm back to my old ways.  I hope I am.