It was a very warm summer’s day.  It was getting further into the afternoon and was already past time for my normally late lunch.  I chose to ride to a nearby fast food eatery, Taco Bell, to grab something to fill my empty gut.  I filled my need and prepared to leave.  Because soft drinks, or iced tea, these days are charged for so much, I feel obligated to take a full tumbler with me as I go.  I did so.

I was on Daisy Mae, no bags and certainly no cop holder.  She has just enough room around the handlebar risers to allow a cup, or tumbler, to be bunjeed for travel.

The mentioned food place was not far from home but as it was such a nice day for a ride I chose not to go straight home.  Retirement does lend some benefits to what once may have been a tightly planned schedule.

As I turned onto Iowa avenue I could see in the distance something coiled on the road ahead.  It appeared to be a serpent, possibly injured.  As each vehicle came near it would rise from its coil and then again return to the pavement as the cage drove away.  Thoughts went through my head of what it might be like if the snake rose up to get caught in part of the bike or even managed to strike and attached itself to a part of me, the rider.  Perhaps it would be best to give the beast maximum distance as I rode past.

As I approached the appearance of the animal altered to become that of a broken circular tread blown from some passing four wheeler.  I passed it safely with no real threat presented.  I didn’t look back as I rode away to see if it once more took on the form of a coiled serpent.

I rolled on toward the flyway.  I noticed as the bike crossed any imperfection in the pavement the bounce would cause the iced drink to splash through the straw hole in the cup cover.  Some of the liquid would end up on me and the rest would subsequently blow back over my face and tee shirt as the wind picked it up.  The impact was intensified as I rolled onto the flyway.

I merged onto Interstate 435 and headed north through light traffic to exit onto Kansas route five.  K5 is a nice run from the Kansas City area to Lansing and on to Leavenworth.  K5 is a road with numerous curves, most of which can be taken comfortably but there is one that is marked for caution at fifteen miles per hour.   It must have been an evidence of the sense of humor of the engineer picking the placement of that sign.  It honestly does not have to be taken at fifteen miles per hour but the caution needs to not be ignored completely.  Daisy Mae sits a bit low and it isn’t unusual for her to scrape a peg on a curve or two.

It’s  about twenty-five miles up route five to Lansing and another six into Leavenworth.  The splashing of the iced drink continued along the route and was quite welcome on such a hot Summer’s day, although it was diminishing as its source was reduced.  I enjoyed the ride.

I turned north on Kansas route seven in Lansing and rode just about halfway into Leavenworth.  In Leavenworth I turned around and took K7 toward home.  Kansas route seven is mostly divided and a full blown flyway allowing comfortable speeds of seventy mph, or more.  K7 took me to within a few miles of home.

When I arrived at my driveway the drink was down by about a third and had ceased providing me with its cooling spray.  It was a good day for a ride.  It was a good ride. It did cause me to wonder whether I should intentionally carry a mostly full iced drink on every  Summer’s ride.  Maybe I should; maybe not.  It’s a thought worth considering