Wednesday, December 15, 2010

9/14/10 Getting Lost: My Ritual

Previous plans for surfing were out of the question, unless by “surfing” you actually meant "drowning".  In my condition I was up for the latter.  A much better decision for the morning would be to speed along some unfamiliar mountain roads on the Irony Horse.

 

There was a military base/lookout point on a nearby hillside.  I recall Space saying that it was a great ride with an impressive view of the ocean on one side and the valley on the other.  Predictably, the road narrowed considerably after passing the military base.  I passed the “Cape of Good Hope Coffee Motel” and thought to myself: I could use a cape in my wardrobe, especially a cape of good hope.  Something like that just might be enough to tilt my pragmatic nature slightly towards the optimistic side.


In the distance I saw a serpentine road up the side of a mountain on the other side of the valley; that would be my destination.  As usual there was nobody around to save me from myself or at a minimum, report my stupidity to others.  The pavement ended and was replaced by large river stones.  The Irony Horse bobbed and weaved unable to maintain a straight path.  Miraculously, I didn’t wipe out although there were a few close calls.  That switchback road was as twisty as any I had encountered here and the climb was made doubly difficult because I couldn’t take my eyes off my surroundings.  I wanted to press on further but a muddy stretch of road made the decision to stop for me.  Trying to cross it would have made a wipeout certain and not just likely.  Logic had prevailed and my return journey from yet another “middle of nowhere” began.


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