The First Ride

The new baby sat in the garage for the entire week before we went on vacation to MI.  We couldn't ride it, but we could admire it.  Even so, it was still naked without all the accessories we planned to put on it.  Karl's helmet did not arrive before we left on vacation, but Kurt picked it up a couple of days before we returned home.  He also picked up my jacket which had been special ordered.

It was close to 10 PM berfore we made it home form a long day's drive from MI.  The next day, it had rained in the morning, and was starting to clear off and the roads were drying out, so Karl declared that he was going riding in the neighborhood.  I chuckled.  We live in a small neighborhood, and as I suspected, he got bored with that in about fifteen minutes.  So he left the neighborhood and broadened his horizons to the northern part of town. 

He said that he hoped I didn't mind that he went without me, but he wanted to get the feel of the new bike and it was considerably larger than the one he rode for the safety course when he got his license and the one he used to ride about 30 years ago.  Besides, my new seat and backrest were not yet on the bike.  I didn't mind a bit.  And I didn't begrudge him some time to himself to familiarize himself with his new toy.  To be honest, I wanted him to be familiar enough with it that he would be comfortable riding with me on it.  I figured it was in my own best interest. 

About a half hour later, he came back home and announced that he was only home to pick up his cell phone and was going out again.  This time he was gone for a little over an hour and then he came back and said that he was home to change his shirt because he was tired of getting beaten up by his collar in the wind., and what time was dinner?  I told him whenever he made it back home.  Again, chuckling to myself.  This was the most animated I had seen him in a long time. 

I was tickled.  He was like a kid at Christmas with a new toy.  This time he went even farther affield and at some point he stopped in to visit our daughter who was packing to move in a couple of weeks.  He stayed long enough for a quick break before putting it back on the road to come home. 

He came home and was beaming about how smooth a ride it is and how much more power it has then some cars.  He had really enjoyed himself out on the road.  I was happy for him.  We should have done this years ago.

The next day I called to check on the accessories.  They were all in, so I made an appointment for Karl to bring in the bike the day after that to get the baby all decked out.