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