TALLADEGA SCENIC HIGHWAY ON MT. CHEAHA ~ ALABAMA ~ photo taken by Dianna Stover
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Sunday, April 13, 2008

BIG CITY RANT

We were planning to go to Birmingham yesterday, to see Harley's Mom, who is in the hospital. She should be home in a couple of days, but we wanted to go and visit her. The weather decided to cooperate at 68 degrees and some sun, so we took the bike's. Since we didn't get started till almost noon, we opted for the Interstate so we could get to Birmingham more timely. It's 90 miles from Montgomery, and pretty uneventful... until we get close to the Birmingham city limits. I think that's wear it becomes every man (or woman) for themselves!
After a quick, Chick FilA lunch at the Cahaba Valley exit, we resumed our ride. I swear, some people have no regard for the biker trying to assert their place traffic. We were trying to merge back onto I 65 with two entrance lanes (challenge one) and we seemed to be surrounded by SUVs' (challenge two). As we started to accelerate to merge speed, I noticed Harley, traveling in front, getting squeezed by a Jeep Cherokee. He had no clear lane yet to merge and was not able to move over. From my view, he was literally sharing his lane with this other vehicle. As I checked my mirrors, and looked over my shoulder to see if my lane was clear to move over yet, my last thought in my mind was, "Please Lord, let me turn back around and NOT see Harley going ass over end because of that damn jeep!" Thankfully, all was well. I did, however, turn back around just in time to see Harley prominently sharing his "Love Eagle" with the offending Jeep driver.

While we made our way closer to the jutting skyline of Birmingham, we needed to stay ever alert with all the lane changing fools, that seemed to be in a bigger hurry than a colony of ants trying to rebuild their home. I'll never forget, the very first time we rode through Birmingham after I started riding solo. My hubby, who knows me well, tried to warn me what to expect. He was afraid I would get a little too nervous and forget what I know. He said, "Well ride in the far left lane, that way we only have one side to worry about." I'll admit, we don't usually get into as much trouble over there. And, we're not the sort to let traffic pile up behind us.

We arrived at Carraway Methodist Hospital with no further ado. After a nice visit with Ma, a friendly nurse noticed our riding clothes as we left the hospital. She told us how jealous she was to be working, and not riding like us. We sympathized with her a moment before she told us a great to get back out of the city with less hassle. It proved to be a great piece of advice. Thank you, to our nice new friend!

I realized why I don't enjoy riding on interstates and in big cities, as we took a more leisurely route home on Hwy 31 to Montgomery. You can be more relaxed, find your groove, and take in what the Good Lord put before us, as we wind through these familiar country roads. Ahhh! This is my comfort zone. I'm not ashamed to say I would rather ride a thousand miles through the country side, than a hundred miles on the interstate! Ride safe. Lady R

10 comments:

Maggie said...

Hope Harley's Mom recovers quickly from her hospital stay!

Like you I love the back country roads.

I grew up in Northern Alabama, wish I had road a bike then! Good excuse to go back!

You pictures are really nice and I look forward to future posts.

Lady R with your permission may I link your blog to mine?

Lady R (Di) said...

Maggie...Of course you may link to mine. It's always nice to set another place at the table, so to speak. Welcome! Lady R

DND said...

Sorry you had such a bad experience in B-Ham. I wish I could say that was unusual, but the traffic here is crazy. There are, however, lots of nice roads around here to ride that don't involved the idiots on the interstate.

Mr. Motorcycle said...

Aah,
Don't we all love the beautiful scenery on the long winding relaxing backroads.

Ronman said...

LadyR you are a woman after my own heart. I would love to travel cross country all on the back roads. Seems the interstates aren't too friendly to we two wheelers.

All my best thoughts go to Mr.LadyR's mother. Sounds as if she's on her way out of the hospital soon. I'm certain your visit brightened her day.

Ronman

"Joker" said...

And all this time I thought we had exclusivity on idiot drivers up here in MA! Yep, I agree with you, I'm not a big fan of the highway near the city. The ironic thing is I got hit on a nice country road I had been taking to avoid the "dangerous" highway. Go figure.

It's a catch-22. You are less likely to be hit on the highway, because there are no driveways or side streets for people to pop out of unexpectedly in front of you. On the highway, if you are either far left or right, as Harley said, you only have one side to worry about. The thing is, if you get hit on the highway, you're more likely to be killed because of the high speed.

All we can do is be as careful as we can and keep praying today isn't our day to go.

My best to Harley's mom.

FLHX_Dave said...

Backroads all the way. You see more and can enjoy all the spots that the busy world will never experience. I'm with you. I now just assume that everyone is going to hit me. Keeps me sharp. You meet some really cool and interesting folks along the way too. I'll do my part for Mom on this end.

Lady R (Di) said...

Thanks to all of you for your well wishes. They are greatly appreciated!

DND... I DO NOT understand how you drive in that everyday! God Bless ya! You must have a lot of patience.

mr. m...ditto!

Ronman...every time we saw another motorcycle, as I waved,I thought of your most recent post. I kept imagining that it was one of my fellow bloggers! "Hey, there went Joker and Dave!" It was a fun game.

Joker, I didn't mention it in the story, but on our nice little country road home, Harley had to brake hard and swerve for someone coming up fast on their stop sign. It didn't look like they were going to stop! So, your right, everywhere still has it's hazards to be alert for.

Dave, for some reason, the nice scenic back roads seem to allow you more time for deep thoughts. Maybe, because there ARE less distractions, you can be more relaxed.

"Take me home, country roads. To the place, I belong!" Ride on everybody and ride safe! Lady R

Ann said...

Lady R, I couldn't agree with you more! Even as a passenger, I prefer to stay off the freeways. Especially in AZ...these people are nuts and have NO regard for bikes!

Hope Harley's mom gets out and recovers soon!

ultra242 said...

LADY R!!!
sup? love youre blogs youre persanality really comes out in youre writing. Tell Harley I know the feeling of getting pinched off on a road. I just pretend im invisible and the cant see me and always on the defence. Hope harleys mom gets well soon its stressful on family when some is sick.Well here in the midwest were gearing up to ride r country roads but weather is still fighting us offn Youre LUCKY!!! Cant wait to read youre next adventure Later Dude