Rick Long's Stories
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October 24, 2004
Fire in the Hole         4/25/2004
It's All Happening      6/25/2004
For a Printable
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The Power and theResponsibility
8/15/2004
The Best of Times or the Worst
of Times             8/27/2004
Uncle Rick....I'm All Right
                                            Riding to the Post Office
By Rick Long

You know that feeling you have all over your body when you are miserably sick with a cold? Well that’s
how I felt a couple of days ago. As a registered nurse, I recommend Zicam nasal swabs along with Sudafed,
chased with vitamins and lots of fluids. As a nurse who sets his own schedule by working for a registry
agency, I recommend calling off work for the day and curling up with a cup of hot tea and your favorite
motorcycle magazine. This is how my morning started.

What I don’t recommend is going outside, just for a minute, to check the bike. Don’t think about the
fact that the battery tender needs to be connected. Sure, that will only take a minute or so. Sure, you can just
do that one thing and then come right back in to the tea and that article you just started reading. The phrase â
€œit will only take a minuteâ€� falls into that category known as “famous last words.â€�

I easily convince myself that it won’t hurt to go out to the bike for just a minute. Even though I live in the
mountains at 6000 elevation and the date is late November, the temp is 42 F; well above freezing.

With my warmest jacket zipped up tight, I pull the cover off the bike and remark to myself, “Hum, she
sure looks dusty. Well, if I’m careful and don’t get wet I could just hose her off right quick. And I
just saw the grinding tool by the stairs. I’ve been meaning to round off that turn signal cancel button so it
will be as comfortable as the new model BMWs.� The plot thickens.

An hour goes by. Then two. Then three. The bike gets most of that time but other outside projects get a few
minutes here and there. All the while, I think, “Just one more project and I’ll go in.� The need for
lunch is the only over-riding factor that saves continued exposure to the cold weather.

My wife calls to check on me when I’m at home sick. Lunch is just over when the phone rings. She asks
if I might feel good enough to go to the post office and pickup a package that has been there for some time. â
€œI guess I feel good enough to get out to the Post Office,â€� I reply.

Now I have the final thing I need on this cold winter sick day: an excuse to ride. I don my two-piece riding
suit complete with liner. I pull on the helmet liner and full-face helmet. I get out the thick winter gloves. I swab
my nasal passages with Zicam one more time. Freshly medicated and with all this gear on, I am now ready to
ride the 1.5 miles to the tiny post office that services our likewise tiny mountain community.

The engine roars to life. Staintune exhaust systems have such a nice sound. I come off the center stand and
head out to the street. The riding suit has been hot while standing around getting ready to ride but the cool air
is now making the outfit comfortable. Watch for gravel, negotiate the curves, rev it up a bit on the straight
away and in a few moments I’m there.

I get into the post office and find that there are five packages. These are fairly small so a bunge net and my
luggage rack will come in handy today. I’m getting ready to make my way back out to the bike when the
postmaster asks, “What kind of bike is that?� We talk about my BMW K-bike and his non-running
Goldwing for a while, both enjoying the chance to add some motorcycle talk to an otherwise lonely day.

Mail tied down, I head back home. Don’t think this is a boring ride. The last quarter mile to my house is
always the most exciting/dangerous part of any ride I take. It involves a blind right-hand reducing radius curve
immediately followed by a 90 degree right over a rise followed by a 90 degree left up a hill with five rises
ending with a 90 degree right-hander down into the sloped driveway that usually has a four-wheeler parked
almost too close to a tree for me to get between the two. Try this after a several-hundred-mile run. Wakes
you up quite nicely.

I park and carry the mail inside. Looks like snow clouds are rolling in. What a great day for a ride, even if it
was only to the post office.