They sit around the fire enjoying each other. Laughing, teasing, savoring the warmth and light of the blaze and the communion. They taste the joy of life.
Out in the darkness beyond the glow of the flames, out among the flickering shadows another creature moves. Occasionally the flickering flames illuminate it for fleeting seconds as it drifts like a shadow through the trees.
Out there in the cold, lonely and mysterious dark, walks a solitary creature. Yet it didn't choose it so. Fate has branded it an outcast.
It circles silently through the dark. Unidentifiable, unheard... its longings unspoken... alone.
Infrequently, it hesitantly steps in closer; drawn by the sound of life and those that are not alone. Those echoes from the fire touch something deep inside its soul that pulls it toward that light. But, as always, one of those around the blaze will notice the strangers approach as it moves just inside the fringe of light. They will notice and fire a warning shot.
A pack of yapping dogs will come rushing out to chase...
Sure, the creature could easily put a couple of the yappers on the ground. That would send the others running with their tails tucked... but a fight is not what it was seeking. Its life has been nothing but fight. It longs to be part of that unknown camaraderie around the fire. To be a part of and not always stand defensive, with its back to a wall.
It was an end to that solitary existence it sought, an end to the lonesome... that it approached... not a fight.
But as the vulture was created to soar alone, living on the fringes and on the leavings of the world, the hollow void of loneliness in its heart... so this creature also is destined to remain; out in the dark, solo... wishing for the warmth of the fire yet knowing only the dusky cold light of the fringe. Alone.
It stops for a few seconds gazing back, a look of longing in its eyes, then steps out of the circle of light and vanishes into the surrounding darkness.
Grab Your Handles and Ride
Brian
... Splitting the wind on a Motorcycle... Feeding my soul with the Healing power of the Open Road... following that twisting, Ribbon of Highway that leads me on...
Friday, July 12, 2013
Friday, July 5, 2013
A Raider 4th of July
The 4th of July 2013 for us was in Florence, Oregon... or... at least that's where it started and ended.
We dawdled around the rig, parked at the Three Rivers Casino for too long and let the wind catch up with us. Though the day had started off clear sky and calm, and the clear sky remained... the calm blew away.
Mid morning we climbed on Sonja... the Raider... and headed north along the PCH from Florence, buffeted by a stiff Ocean breeze. :)
North of town a ways are the Sea Lion caves. We dropped the coin a few years back and took the elevator down in to see the place. It was ok... maybe do it again some day... today... I just rolled on by to pull in just a short way further north at the view point for the Haceda Head Lighthouse.
We'd stopped here in the truck, one stormy morning, on a trip a few years back to try and photograph what's claimed to be the most photographed lighthouse in Oregon...
That day it was raining, foggy, and the surf was huge... Over the sound of the crashing surf I could hear this sound that... sounded like barking... but couldn't for a bit figure out where it was coming from...
I finally realized that the beach, there on the right... was an odd color...
It was Covered... by Sea Lions... making it a rich, brown color... Covered, nose to flipper, shoulder to shoulder, with Sea Lions. Hundreds, thousands even.
There were rafts of 'em, 20 and 30 in a bunch going out to hunt and coming in to rest on their "haul out" beach. In the rain and wind that day I failed to capture any photograph... except the one in my head. Altogether is was Pretty awesome.
On farther north on our run toward Newport, we found another wide spot to pull off and walk...
A grassy trail led down to the beach below a small river that dumped into the sea at this spot just a few miles below Yachats.
The beach itself is narrow, and pretty rocky in spots...
... a few small tide pools are hidden in the rocks...
More of those "Rock Pilers" we followed in Arizona and Utah... have visited the Oregon coast...
Couldn't go too far up the beach though... a short convo with a guy playing with his dog on the windy beach used up the time I had available... (that's shorthand for ~ I BADLY needed a lil' boys room!)
... it's a cold wind... morning coffee thing...
So, we walked back to the bike and continued on up the PCH to the Fishing Port of Newport.
Parked Sonja backed into the curb... and strolled non-nonchalantly down the street... trying desperately to NOT look like an old guy with something in his boot.... while I stood in line for the Grandmother and her 18 or 20 year old granddaughter??? to come out of the "one holer" public restroom after an 8 or 10 minute get-together... :-/
Then... it was find a nice lil' cafe along the bay for lunch... and make the run back to Florence in time to find up close parking for the riverside 4th of July fireworks display the Siuslaw Fire Dept put on in the Florence Marina.
All in all a real nice hundred+ mile 4th of July along the Pacific Coast Highway (U.S. Hwy 101)
Grab Your Handles and Ride
Brian
We dawdled around the rig, parked at the Three Rivers Casino for too long and let the wind catch up with us. Though the day had started off clear sky and calm, and the clear sky remained... the calm blew away.
Mid morning we climbed on Sonja... the Raider... and headed north along the PCH from Florence, buffeted by a stiff Ocean breeze. :)
North of town a ways are the Sea Lion caves. We dropped the coin a few years back and took the elevator down in to see the place. It was ok... maybe do it again some day... today... I just rolled on by to pull in just a short way further north at the view point for the Haceda Head Lighthouse.
That day it was raining, foggy, and the surf was huge... Over the sound of the crashing surf I could hear this sound that... sounded like barking... but couldn't for a bit figure out where it was coming from...
I finally realized that the beach, there on the right... was an odd color...
It was Covered... by Sea Lions... making it a rich, brown color... Covered, nose to flipper, shoulder to shoulder, with Sea Lions. Hundreds, thousands even.
There were rafts of 'em, 20 and 30 in a bunch going out to hunt and coming in to rest on their "haul out" beach. In the rain and wind that day I failed to capture any photograph... except the one in my head. Altogether is was Pretty awesome.
On farther north on our run toward Newport, we found another wide spot to pull off and walk...
A grassy trail led down to the beach below a small river that dumped into the sea at this spot just a few miles below Yachats.
The beach itself is narrow, and pretty rocky in spots...
... a few small tide pools are hidden in the rocks...
More of those "Rock Pilers" we followed in Arizona and Utah... have visited the Oregon coast...
Couldn't go too far up the beach though... a short convo with a guy playing with his dog on the windy beach used up the time I had available... (that's shorthand for ~ I BADLY needed a lil' boys room!)
... it's a cold wind... morning coffee thing...
So, we walked back to the bike and continued on up the PCH to the Fishing Port of Newport.
Parked Sonja backed into the curb... and strolled non-nonchalantly down the street... trying desperately to NOT look like an old guy with something in his boot.... while I stood in line for the Grandmother and her 18 or 20 year old granddaughter??? to come out of the "one holer" public restroom after an 8 or 10 minute get-together... :-/
Then... it was find a nice lil' cafe along the bay for lunch... and make the run back to Florence in time to find up close parking for the riverside 4th of July fireworks display the Siuslaw Fire Dept put on in the Florence Marina.
All in all a real nice hundred+ mile 4th of July along the Pacific Coast Highway (U.S. Hwy 101)
Grab Your Handles and Ride
Brian
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)