... yesterday i took a little wanderabout up along the kennebec ... my goal wasn't to see the odometer digits click over 22,900, but i'll admit the thought was in my mind ... i drove through skowhegan, then cruised route 201 north along the storied banks of the great river, making a stop in bingham for an early supper of one of maine's most delectable gourmet dishes, a truck stop plate of fresh "chester fried chicken" ... after that i crossed the river and zipped south along the winding course of route 16 ... outside madison i stopped near the father rasle monument to sit and share with the trees the gentle sound of the river as it caresses the rounded glacial boulders scattered in the shallows which mark the fall line it bisects near the ancient indian village ... ghosts—ghosts of a black robe priest, spirits of abenaki warriors, a sense of their women and children, english soldiers, canoe paddling voyageurs, muscled lumbermen—all of them, the echoes of their voices are carried softly in the mist that forms above the rips next to the point of land where bomazeen, the indian sachem, was murdered for believing in the way of freedom ..
... after leaning against a spruce tree and caking the shoulder of my motorcycle jacket with a huge dollop of pitch, i raced the sun back to east pond, where chuck served me up a cup of coffee and found a rag to soak in turpentine to clean my jacket ... he and ann invited me to dinner, but i didn't want to drive home in the dark, and, in any case, i was still turkey to the chester fried chicken's stuffing, so i drove back to waterville where the sunset provided promise autumn wasn't soon to end ...
... after leaning against a spruce tree and caking the shoulder of my motorcycle jacket with a huge dollop of pitch, i raced the sun back to east pond, where chuck served me up a cup of coffee and found a rag to soak in turpentine to clean my jacket ... he and ann invited me to dinner, but i didn't want to drive home in the dark, and, in any case, i was still turkey to the chester fried chicken's stuffing, so i drove back to waterville where the sunset provided promise autumn wasn't soon to end ...
... today i arose early (for me, at least) and drove down to portland to meet up with adrien for lunch and a movie ... when i left the parking lot the air was 51°f, but my selection of motorcycle gear kept me quite comfortable, even at 75+ miles per hour ...
... adrien and i shared a very "friendly" lunch, then we enjoyed tom hanks' new movie ... impressive, that like "apollo 13" the audience remains riveted to a storyline for which the ending was headline news ... after, we went into portland to try out the offerings from the new cupcake store (how she learns these things is a mystery to me) ...
... on the ride home i took a break in gardiner for a cup of coffee and a piece of pie ... the cobbesseecontee stream, falling over 130 feet in less than a mile, demonstrates the power that was one of the reasons that doctor gardiner selected the location for his settlement ...
... naturally, there's no place better for coffee and pie than the "a1 diner" ... today's fare listed many desserts, most of them involving pumpkin or cranberries—or both—but, alas, there was no pie to be had ... no complaints on my part, since i've come to believe that in and of itself a cup of coffee is of the very best of treats, especially when the waitress makes a special trip to the kitchen and returns with brown sugar so that i might sublimely sweeten it ...
... there it is, my bmw f650cs ... just as it was when i first saw it, still—well, let's just call it "uniquely styled" and leave it at that ... new tires to replace the set i wore flat in two months ... instead of homemade, bags're now mounted properly with actual store-bought hardware ... and, if you look closely, since i bought it in may an additional 11,000 miles has been added to the odometer ...
... on the way home i noticed the sky beginning to glow, as if off to the west below the horizon the entire world was ablaze ... i'd a few minutes before i was to join chuck and ann at the movies, so i stopped at my apartment where i sat in the window and reminded myself how important it is to pay attention to reminders, especially when they may be on one of g*d's post-it notes ...
"it is for us to reach into the setting sun's glowing warmth,
and thus, unafraid, embrace the chill of night"
—A.BRADY