Three Days The Charm - A Rule of Thumb

I have observed a general rule of life: whenever you undertake a challenge or change of lifestyle, it takes three days to assimilate to the new reality.  You eventually become comfortable with the new reality.  This rule applies to almost anything: from starting a new diet, taking a cross-country bicycle trip, roughing it in a new country, or doing without our modern conveniences.  Maybe even more relevant, the change that comes from committing to the quarantine.  People reorient themselves to the new circumstances, create new patterns and routines.

These reorientations can also appear in reasoning patterns as well.   Growing up in a family that is conservative creates thought patterns and preferences, as with liberal families.  But if you truly seek to understand "the other", then you may see the value of "the other" and then develop new patterns.  

I could go on about this theory (I have many experiences that support it), but it all relates to my cross-county ride.  The first two days were grueling - 98 degree rides.  My butt hurt.  The destination was more important than the journey.  That is why Interstate driving is such a bummer: the only real objective of an Interstate is to "get you there".   "Get off the Interstate Ben Stone" was a line from the movie, Doc Hollywood, with Michael J. Fox (a fun movie about a wanna be plastic surgeon who ends up owning a pig).  But today. I assimilated.  Even driving for hours in Western Texas heat - 109 degrees.  

Yesterday, I drove from Baton Rouge, LA to College Station, TX.  A friend, Greg, gave me a key to his place there while he was out of town.  Great place.  I was able to relax.  I had no energy to write this blog, but I did have the energy to order the best damn brisket from Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que,  Last year I visited the original Cooper's in Llano, TX and I swore it was the best place on earth.  They opened another location in College Station.  Sensational!  I cannot comprehend how Aaron Franklin's brisket could be better - yet people stand in line at Franklin's to get his brisket.  If ever you get a chance to try Coopers, do it.  Trust me on this one.

This morning I got up at 5:30 am and got out of College Station by 8 am.  I traveled through the heart of Texas.  The motorcycle felt good - solid.  It was 85 degrees.  Cold for me these days.  Got gas and pumped air in my tires - hit the road.  Temperature now in the 90's.  I was loving the ride on Texas country roads.  When I was 40 miles outside Abilene, TX that the geography changed and the temperature shot up to 105.  I went through Abilene and now the temperature was 107.  Soon I was riding in 109.  That reading lasted from 1:30 pm to 6:30 pm when I pulled into my hotel at Clovis, NM. 

Wind mill after wind mill, oil pump after oil pump.  Hot southern air hit my face the whole time like I was riding through an inferno.  During this ride, I stopped every hour for an electrolyte drink and a big bottle of water.  I realized that I was a water cooled engine that needed massive coolants.  I could now understand engine dynamics.  I was feeling the same pain as my motorcycle.  Man and his machine.  

I lost my voice during this adventure, and the clerk at the hotel desk probably thought I was full of the no-see-ems (no, not the bugs, but my phrase for the virus).  I am sure that I was a sight to behold.  The hotel has a policy that for out-of-state guests, the clerk was required to escort me to my room.  They did not give me a key.  I turned the air-conditioning unit to 65 and slowly began to freeze.  I ordered delivery of steamed vegetables, brown rice, and chicken.  My kind of meal.  Meanwhile, my voice rebounded, and I set the air-conditioning to 70 degrees.  Now I am a happy camper.

Tomorrow I head up to Taos, NM where I can spend time among the spiritually high artists.  At least that is my image of Taos - an image I formed from when I was there decades ago.  Maybe times have changed.  I hope not.  I would like my thought patterns to go in that direction.

Oh, Taos is in the high-country.  Finally out of the heat.






Comments

  1. Steve1001July 12, 2020 at 3:40 AM

    Aside from your lunch at Coopers (which is now on my “must do” list) it sounds like it was a pretty miserable long hot day - the west Texas landscape of oil wells and tumbleweed is boring as hell. Today should be much nicer in Taos with the beautiful mesas and landscapes. Enjoy the ride and stay safe!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bob LJuly 12, 2020 at 5:12 AM

    Rob your an inspiration to all us guys. I don’t know how you have the grit to power through all you have. There’s a lot more to Rob Marqusee than many of us realize. One could only dream and others will experience. Keep writing and keep riding.

    ReplyDelete

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