Pathfinder

Aeschylus said that a single path leads to the house of Hades; far be it from me to lead my companions to hell unless it is for a purpose (for example the excellent street food and great deals on swimming pool furniture, bizarrely).

So that is why I have scouted a new route to reach our forest shrine this year, rather than go the exact same way we took last year for example.

The road is not without its perils, and although I'm glad I saw this trial through, it is far too gnarly an itinerary to be enjoyable or conducive to a calm state of mind, so I'm afraid in that sense the trip was a bust.

BUT, the good thing is that I had a great outing on the Rising Star, not without its problems (cracked oil tank mount and a stripped thread on the coil mounting bracket to name but a couple), but as I had experienced in the past, the roadholding this bike is capable of is incredible. This frame is like a scalpel, and it carves through trajectories with remarkable precision and very positive grip from the excellent Dunlop K70 tires. Good stuff.

I now have to come up with yet another route that will include the best parts of what I saw this time, while avoiding needless grief along miles of rough offroad trails.

This task may require some divination...

I would like for those who will join me by the next moon to hear the Eternal Cosmic Cymbal reverberate along the way as we ride across the mountains and through the woods, and to realize how places such as these are quiet, yet very much alive at the same time.

I raise a solitary glass of mountain moonshine and I offer it to the day just gone, and to the day when we return here as a group; you see, when you are able to shed your linear understanding of time, you also begin to understand how small gestures like this become psychic tethering points that you can use from any other time "past" and "future".

In this case, the "good vibes" I cultivated throughout the day will be the foundation of our trip next month, and should hopefully contribute to everyone's enjoyment of the day.

It is still very hot around these latitudes, and it looked like it wasn't going to rain so I left the tent and my rain gear in the garage. Now, those of you who winced just by reading that last sentence are very probably motorcyclists who at some point or another were caught out in the rain and soaked to the bone; correct?

Still I was lucky and had clear skies all the way, and the night sky was filled with stars, the milky way an incredibly dense and bright strip that had me almost hypnotized.

Really, surprisingly cozy in there!

Right, see you in a month...