A Short Ride to Nowhere Special

This morning was in the cabin busy work for me.  I have a new Corbin saddle coming for the Road Glide Ultra, new oversized grips to keep my big hands from cramping like they do on the teeny stock grips, and Harley is providing a new fairing because the one on the bike has a flaw on one of the screw holes.  No shipments had arrived and I wanted to get the timing sorted out so time for riding was not wasted waiting for stuff and sitting in the dealer’s showroom.

I also had a bunch financial stuff that arrived by email from my bookkeeper to sort through and issue instruction for her to handle things in my absence.  All of this ran into late morning as I also had many messages to look through and reply too from yesterday’s blog.  It felt good to focus on “getting things done”.

After pizza leftovers for lunch with a Beck’s NA, I got the cover off the Harley FLTRU and checked over the bike.  It was hot.  It was about 80 degrees and the southwest wind was blowing strongly with even stronger gusts.  I had no destination in mind except to be by the water.  I knew my regular backseat companions where busy so, it would be another solo ride.  I don’t mind time alone in the saddle.  Just being in the wind and astride the FLTRU is enough to make the day glow with pleasure and put me in the headspace to write.

I pulled out onto US Highway #1 and headed south from Sebastian and hung a left to cross the Wabasso Bridge to Orchid Island where O could pick up the A1A north.  I had a vague idea that today might be a great day to visit the beaches and see what birds were hanging about.  The wind was really a handful on the bridges but I love how the Road Glides mounted chassis-mounted fairing transferred most of the buffeting to the frame and not to my arms.  There was lots of wind driven debris on the road so I have to watch for it on top of the myopic car drivers.

The beaches were full of people and no interesting birds presented themselves but I did get some shots of the sea and beaches.  It was hot and my face was getting another searing from the sun.  I pulled into the parking at Indioatlantic Beach in Melbourne to get a Java Bean Frappuccino (grande no less)  to refresh myself before heading inland.

The 520 bridge took me into downtown Melbourne where I picked up US Highway #1 and turned south towards Palm Bay.  The roads were not too busy.  It is one of the things I like about this part of the east coast.  Not too many people and the traffic is not too crazy except for the almost complete disregard for signaling turns or lane changes.

I coasted along on my scooter doing the speed limit with lots of time to take in the scenery and to watch the acrobatics of the Osprey and the vultures having fun in the high winds.  I pulled into a conservation area along a creek that crosses highway flowing into the Indian River.  It is lush with mangrove trees, swamp grasses and live oaks on both side of the wide creek.  I sometimes find the dolphins feeding in the late afternoon and occasionally the manatee make an appearance.  The bird life is always varied, well-populated, and very active.  It is a good place to shoot because there is a dock that lets me get out closer to the wildlife.

The usual white and brown pelicans were there but not actively fishing.  One of them would occasionally reach down with his bill to scoop up a fish for a snack.  The air was full of terns and gulls and the waters edge was active with snowy egrets, greater egrets and ibises.  A group of a dozen cormorants were diving out in the wide, deeper part of the creek. 

What really caught my eye was an Osprey.  This bird was all over the sky riding the wind, braking to a full stop, staying suspended at one point in the sky the swooping down in a rush then zoom back skyward.  He wasn’t fishing.  He was just buzzed to be in the wind, alive on a sunny day, and just getting off on life.  I watched him for about 20 minutes and took dozens of shots as his performance brought him within ten feet of me.

I could really relate to this bird.  There is nothing I like better than being in the wind on a bright sunny day with a good Harley under me and a fun road ahead of me.  Life just doesn’t get any better than this!

The sky started to get very dark up towards Cape Canaveral as a thick band of clouds came in.  As it edged southwards towards me I decided it was time to fire up the scooter and get on my way to buy dinner for tonight and tomorrow.  The osprey was still hard at it as I rolled up the parking lot and headed back to US #1.

After a quick stop at the supermarket, I arrived in Sebastian and headed over to Indian River Road and a stop at Earl’s for a cold beer to cap off a great short ride to nowhere special.