Big Bike Trip Summary

By: David Starr Category:General PostTag: Esoterica, New Post:

This is one last post to cover the whole trip and put things in order, since the blog
goes backwards chronologically.

And one last story from the road.

Conversation with an Anonymous Farmer

I was waiting
at a traffic stop in Kansas for about 15 minutes and had some time to pass, so
I struck up a conversation with the farmer in the truck behind me. He was in a weathered
pickup and bringing his horse back from the vet.

Farmer (F): Howdy.
Me (M): Howdy. How ya doing?
F: Good, wishin for rain.
M: Man, you can have all the rain I’ve sen. I just came across Missouri last night
in a downpour.
F: We need it. The wheat here is stressed (indicating the wheat field next to us)
.
M: I thought things here looked really green. But I am from Texas and we grew soy
beans and rice when I was growing up. I don’t know how to read wheat.
F You been up there in that New Jersey too long. (He was reading my license plate
from the bike I had just bought).
M: No, I live in Idaho. Just bought the bike and am riding it home.
F: What, they don’t sell motorcycles in Idaho?

OK, he got me here, but I was prepared to redeem myself, so I smartassed him back
and brought out the Copenhagen can hoping for a little nod of camaraderie there.

M: They don’t sell that one in Idaho. (Got him, hee hee)
F: Yeah, I reckon you don’t see a lot of purple motorsickles up there in
Idaho.

He shoots, he scores. Damn.

F: Can I bum a pinch off ya?