Chapter 11 -- Traveling Again
Dave carefully unwrapped the motorcycle that he'd stored in a large tool crib at Dallas' Love Field -- the 1988 Harley Davidson Heritage Softail that had starred in the movie
Road Trip
along with Dave's wife Scarlett Johansson. He'd tightly wrapped the bike in plastic sheeting as a dust cover after winterizing it, including the addition of a stabilizing additive to the gasoline in the tank and several containers of damp-rid to keep moisture at bay.
After wheeling the bike out of the hangar where it had been stored, he gave the starter a try. To his surprise, the battery had remained charged enough to start the bike after a minor hesitation. The motorcycle roared to life, the sound echoing around behind him in the large open hangar.
Several of the mechanics and linemen came over to him and to marvel at the motorcycle. The ownership of the motorcycle in storage had become widely known by everyone at the aircraft service station. Some of the people made favorable comments to Dave about liking his singing and hoping to see him live soon at a concert.
One asked for a picture. Dave gathered all of them together and got some who didn't want to be in the photo to take a collective picture of all of them standing behind the Harley. As he stood there, he sent the photo by email to each of them.
One of the women in the group, a pretty auburn haired fox and an office worker who'd come out to see what the commotion was, asked, "Need someone to ride with you the rest of your journey?"
Dave teased, "Hop on, although that pencil skirt might be a problem."
She laughed and said, "I really would go with you ... but I have a ton of other commitments ... and a husband who just wouldn't understand." She sighed in regret. Dave hugged her and kissed her forehead.
Dave rode the bike back to the motel at the outskirts of the airport where he'd stayed last night with Alice. He stopped to put air in the tires. Alice had flown him to Dallas to restart his journey and stayed overnight. She'd left early that morning after they made love to fly back to Sarasota and return to work as the CFO of EneRG.
Dave had gotten more economical about what he needed on his trip. Well he allowed for camping out, he opted to dispense with the cookware and tent. All food was eatable without cooking such as energy bars, and the tarp he carried was large enough to fold over his down sleeping bag and keep him dry. He planned to use aluminum tarp poles to prop up the tarp as a cover, if he needed to tent.
The one thing he had bought, patterning himself after Jim Mellon -- the main character in the book Cricket wrote entitled Road Trip -- was a travel guitar in a waterproof case. He also had a couple of practice music books his instructor had given him. He'd packed those in waterproof bags.
Dave admitted to himself that at his advanced age he'd become addicted to creature comforts such as a nice bed, an air-conditioned room, and good meals that he didn't have to worry about preparing. He'd take his chances as he traveled regarding room and meal availability, but those were his preferences.
Dave took the time to set up his carefully programmed iPad Mini onto the handle bars of the Harley on a special mount. The device would charge off of the bike's electrical system, and show him micro and macro views of his route.
Dave headed out from the motel after packing and stowing all his gear, again with about twenty bungee cords. He did use the Interstate and some of the freeways to get from Dallas to Fort Worth, and then to head west along some of the U.S. and state routes. He rapidly concluded that Texas was (a) large, (b) spacious, and (c) often desolate. Flying over the state, which he'd done many times, rapidly became his preferred method of traversing.
He headed for Abilene, Texas as an overnight stop. A quick telephone call and he had a room at the Hilton Garden Inn. He poked along the route and was rarely the fastest vehicle on the road. He noted that even some of the local roads had seventy miles per hour speed limits.
Dave chuckled as he drove through the sprawling community as he remembered a story from his younger days called the Abilene Paradox. It was about some family that ended up driving to Abilene even though none of them really wanted to go. They all thought they were doing what the others wanted to do, when in fact Abilene was the farthest from any of their individual's wishes. One moral to the story was about honesty in communications with others.
Dave had a nice dinner at the motel and then spent the evening working on some of his song lyrics, and then practicing his guitar and even trying to work out fitting the music to the words he'd written, often modifying one or the other. He wasn't impressed by his work, but thought the effort was useful as practice. One day he might just hit the right combination of words and music to that he had something he really liked.
He'd gotten several ideas for new songs driving to Abilene, so he made some extensive notes about those. The next day, as he got on the road heading for New Mexico, he'd work at refining the ideas in his mind.
Dave headed out early the next morning aiming for Albuquerque -- a five-hundred-mile day. He made his first stop a coffee shop across from a small park in Lubbock, Texas. He walked around the park to get the blood flowing in his body after sitting on the bike part of the morning. He figured he was about a third of the way to Albuquerque at that point.
Dave had a concert to give in Albuquerque on the University of New Mexico campus at the Dreamstyle Arena. Kyle had emailed him that the arena was a sellout crowd. He also said he wasn't sure whether he'd have Shiloh Gentry there to join in or not. Since Dave would have several days before the event, he'd have time to adjust and work things out with the band ahead of time.
Dave groaned as he got off his bike in front of the hotel in Albuquerque. He expected his back to hurt a little. It hurt a lot. He hoped the pool area had a Jacuzzi.
Without unloading the bike, he registered for the room that had been arranged for him. As in a few other cities, the concert entourage had taken over the entire top floor of the hotel, occupying all of their suites. Dave got a few items of luggage from the bike and went up to the room.
To his immense pleasure, Shiloh was sitting in the room with her feet up on the bed. She was wearing a bikini.
"Oh, goody. My lover is here," she hummed as she ran to meet him and kiss him. "I've missed you."
Dave struggled to straighten up, "I'm sore from riding. You don't happen to do massages, do you?"
Shiloh lit up, "I do. I know all the muscle groups and everything. Remember, I was studying to be a physician's assistant before you discovered me. Come and lie down."
Dave hobbled over to the bed and fell face first in one of the pillows. "When did you get here?" She started to pull his clothes from his body as he rolled around to help.
