This morning I couldn't believe how beautiful it was outside, so of course I rode the Harley to work! Having a good ride this afternoon kept me going all day long, so when I rode the the back gate at school and saw Kevin waiting on the corner for me it was "on" the way he puts it. I don't think I'll ever be able to say the word "on" quite the way he does with several syllables, but on such a beautiful day there's no way to disagree with that sentiment!
We started our ride with a tank topper at the base followed by a quick trip to Burger King.
Hitting the worst traffic of the day on A76, I had my first opportunity to ride down the center line, following Kevin's lead. Here in the Netherlands motorcyclists are supposed to get through long lines of cars this way to avoid overheating the air-cooled engines waiting in long queues of traffic. We had talked about it, and I couldn't figure out how you recover from the center if traffic starts moving until it happened. We just merged back into the line and kept going! Cool! Way cool! I'm still giggling about how good it felt!
Going past Heerlen on N281, we went in the direction of Vaals, and ended up going up the winding road to Drielandenpunt, the highest point in the Netherlands, and also the point where the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium meet. There's a nice nature reserve there, a bit of a park with a labyrinth complete with a tower in its center, a few touristy restaurants, and a look-out tower where there's a spectacular view of the countryside. Three countries' countryside, that is.
Kevin led me through the park and out the back side into Belgium where we rode on their horrific patched roads that curved like a crazed snake. We managed to avoid running over skateboarders and didn't go over the steep sides of the curves into nothingness. Pretty good, I thought! When we finally reached the lower level, we wound around through many, many small villages and finally ended up on some longish straight-ish paths before getting back onto N281 and heading home.
At one point, we were facing the setting sun - so bright that all I could see was the almost-blinding light with Kevin's silhouette leading me on. I've never been so thankful for my nice biker's goggles with super polarizing lenses. Fortunately, this experience lasted for a few seconds. However, it will be etched in my memory forever! Following that little experience, we were able to watch the sun descend behind the piedmont of the Alps. Gorgeous, absolutely, stunningly gorgeous streaks of gold and orange filled the sky behind even more silhouettes, this time trees not yet budded out for Spring.
This is why I ride.
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