Dogs, Snakes and Blackberries. Everything But Guns.
America is a beautiful thing…
Today I rode past the Riverside Gun Shop on a curvy bit of road outside of Eureka Springs. A couple of miles later I turned the Revival around and went back. Ron, the man at the counter, talked about his 21 year old daughter, she’s been promoted to front-of-house manager at Chick-fil-A and that’s a good job. I talked about Eli and Coco (my kids). He likes art and wanted to hear about Coco’s job at MIA (Minneapolis Institute of Arts). He visits Crystal Bridges museum in Bentonville and described in detail some of his favorite paintings. He doesn’t remember the artists.
Blackberries grow wild around his house, they’re smaller and sweeter than farm-raised but you’ve got to watch the thorns. The dogs like them, too. Rattlesnakes are becoming a problem; they’d always had water moccasins and copperheads, but the rattlers are new. He found a young one outside the house just the other day. They’ve got armadillos now, too.
Ron’s boss, the owner of the shop is an Army vet and took our picture.
I’m in room 6 at the Edelweiss Inn in Eureka Springs, Debbie and Lee are in room 4. They’re riding new BMW boxers, R1250RSs and live in Creston, Iowa. They’re retired, no kids. He’d been a civil engineer for the Federal Government, she’d been a department manager at the Walmart store for 32 years. They’ve been riding together since the ‘80s. I suggested that the country was in bad shape, to which they enthusiastically agreed. They got quiet when I told them that I was liberal commie and we went back to motorcycle stories.
(Maybe I should have let them bring the heat. But my fear is that once they’re all fired up that I won’t be able to bring them back to motorcycle stories, that we’ll argue or stop talking. Need to think about that. Lee just walked by, waved and smiled. We’re good.)
Traveling well is the time and willingness to turn around and go back. When that unplanned thing flashes past at the corner of your eye as you’re motoring by and that thing sticks in your head, you need to go back. It seems most times worthwhile.