Into the wind of the Rockies…
It was a running joke between us, a motorcycle ride up the Million Dollar Highway, up the split at Ridgeway, bearing left to Ouray and up, a glance at the shrine to the snowplow drivers killed clearing 550, farther up, twisting and skirting the fourteeners around Silverton and down again to Durango.
The first year the dealership was closed, so no rentals, and the next the week ran too short and we said next time, and once we went to Glacier instead to catch the sun going down and we watched a beaver through our viewfinders but gave up right before the slap.
Again, the timing failed when they took a lymph node for examination, and our ride was a slow hike to Delicate Arch and a satisfied truck trip back to his house, a shared quiet along the way.
And suddenly it was this year and I admired the new blue paint with the gray ghost flames, lurking there under the thin layer of garage dust, and wondered when it had last seen the street, while he lay in his room in the basement, dozing and dazed and enveloped in the beeps and whirrs of his new ambiance.
He smiled when I bent to kiss his forehead, sallow and fragile skin cool to my lips. I love you, buddy, I said, and he told me he loved me too, and the smiled widened, spreading up to his eyes, and he said when you come back next year, we’ll go for a ride.
I said I was looking forward to it.
News this week that he wouldn’t make the weekend turned to tears down the line this afternoon when the last of the dirt road riders ended this trip and began another, a journey home.
So the ride never happened, and now it’s not so funny, but it still makes me smile, because maybe someday I’ll see my old friend again, and we’ll finally hit the road together, leaning into the wind of the Rockies.
I’m looking forward to it.
on June 14, 2008 at 7:02 am
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I am so sorry for your loss. He sounds like quite a guy.
on June 14, 2008 at 10:34 am
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thanks, Badger. He was indeed quite a guy.
on June 16, 2008 at 10:05 am
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It sucks losing a friend
I never met this guy but you make me wish I had.
on June 18, 2008 at 7:02 am
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There’s a ’71 Lotus Europa whose soul was stilled last March. We called each other on birthdays, Thanksgiving and our respective nation’s holidays. Called him last fall and said we’d be in touch this summer. Got the call from his new widow and it’ll be hard not hearing the phone ring this 4th.
Condolences and empathy.
on June 18, 2008 at 11:33 pm
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Cog
my thoughts are with you as you remember your friend
your words brought tears to my eyes as I recalled similar memories and lost opportunities
thank you for sharing
Rnbwgrl aka Leeanne
on June 22, 2008 at 5:16 pm
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thanks for the kind words, folks.
on June 22, 2008 at 5:37 pm
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Sorry read about the loss Doug. I saw some great sites in Alaska last week and thought about you. You would have enjoyed the photo ops.
on June 22, 2008 at 8:12 pm
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I am so very sorry for your loss.
Your tribute in words is absolutely stunning.
I am reminded of that song by Richard Thompson, “Vincent Black Lightning”. Something about long rides and longer rides until we see those we loved and love.
You will be in my thoughts this week.
on June 25, 2008 at 6:17 am
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I’m so sorry for your loss, Cog.
on June 25, 2008 at 7:59 am
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thanks everyone.
I’m comforted by the hope that Jozet was wearing her bikini when she commented.
rrrrrrrr
oldman, Alaska is on my List
on July 6, 2008 at 9:19 am
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A very good friend of mine died in April. I know what a difference eloquent tributes like this made to his family. You did him proud.
Sorry for your loss.
on July 7, 2008 at 5:29 am
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thanks, Jenn