Ridin' A Harley

Mike and Cindy, March 2012

For my birthday my wonderful husband bought me a plane ticket to Texas, to visit with my DeRemer family. 

My brothers all ride bikes, my son rides a bike, I personally have felt the joy riding crazy hot blooded Arabians.  I have ridden horses since I was a kid, I rode fast and bareback, I rode through trees and raced in open meadows.  The joy that came from feeling that wind on my face, the freedom of traveling without being closed in, the power of the critter below me and sensing the world around me was intoxicating.  I was always on the lookout for the things on the trail that would jump out in front of us, so that I could be prepared when my wild eyed horse would spook.  Usually those monsters were things like a trash can that wasn't there the day before, it could have been a tree branch that was broken off and the dry leaves would rustle when you went past, he would react like he'd been shot out of a cannon.  Heaven forbid it would be a cow paddy or a person standing on the trail.  Goodness knows you always had to be on the lookout!

I haven't been on a horse for 10 years, our last ride was a quiet walk through the waterways of a big field.  My daughter was with me, she was pregnant and by this time my knees were reminding me why I stopped riding in the first place.  The joy we found that day was written all over our faces, there is nothing like riding a horse, it fills you up on the inside.  As Winston Churchill said, "There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of man."

Cait and Lizzy with Knipper and Bones 2011

My horses are gone now, we shared many happy trails together, I can't wait to race the wind with them again.  I know with every thunderstorm, it is them running down those wooded trails, their pounding feet making the earth rumble.  I smell them sometimes, that warm breath they blew at me from their nostrils.  My horse and I shared the same birthday month, he would have been 29 this year, I lost him a year ago and I miss him so much.  Sometimes I look into the pasture where he grazed with his buddies and think he is still out there, just waiting on me to bring him an apple.  Yes, it hurts to think that horses are not a part of our little farm now.  A friend told me not long ago, remember to ride your horse in your mind, find that balance again, just ride............

Oh dear, I am meandering again...........   I cry and smile at the memories, I will move on and tell you that I found that riding a Harley is almost like riding my horses.  My sweet brother took me for my first Harley ride last weekend.  (And yes, I did wear a helmet...)  We left the park on a sunny afternoon to ride on some back country roads in Texas.  I couldn't stop smiling, my face hurt from smiling!  It brought all the feelings back about riding my horses, the power, the freedom and the travel.  My senses were open to the spring air, the sounds and the feeling of power and speed.  I didn't want it to end, I loved every minute of it!  Thank you Mike for sharing your love with me, your bike is not so unlike my horses after all.