I recall the what and the where, but I've forgotten the why. For some reason, Jared and I were traveling across the country pulling a loaded, dual axle 14 ft enclosed trailer. We were somewhere in western Nebraska. Jared was driving. We weren't sure of the appropriate protocol and eventually just opted for "run away, run away."

It was August 2018. I'd purchased an Indian Roadmaster in Indianapolis. Jared offered to escort me home. We paused for a picture in front of his house on Brady Lane in Noblesville indiana and off we went. We saw the famous Iowa-80 Truck Stop that night where we grabbed rooms and some dinner. Couple days later after some great scenery (not counting Sioux City - he hated that place after a hospitalization there a few years before, but that's another story). We slept in Wall, saw the Badlands and headed west on I-90. A few dozen miles from Rapid City, the skies started looking more than a little threatening. We checked the radar which you can see include magenta segments, those are unrideable and we hid in a rest stop whicle taking pictures of the storm's approach. It hit in full force. The concrete block walls were iffy at best, we thought the whole place would be reduced to rubble. As we waited for the grand finale Jared says, "riding with you is never boring." We survived. Told stories with other bikers who'd found their way in and were hunkered down in other locations. Then, when it was merely pouring rain, we felt that it might be as good as it was gonna get and we rolled in to Rapid City. By then skies were clear, and Jared and I headed to Deadwood for the night.

Jared made a living as a woodworker but would have preferred to be a wood artist. He found a piece of wood with what looked like half a start trek eneterprise on it, so he split the wood, rotated half, made a mirror image and with mahogany and maple fashioned an end table for us. Detail

We hit the road when we saw a 12 hour window of rainfree riding. Alphie was still reluctant to ride freeways. We found a backroad. It kept getting to be less and less a road. We crested a hill and the way down was rutted loose gravel. Always forward. I took the indian down and lost it. I looked back and my sons were waiting at the top to see just how bad it might be before they headed down. But they did come to my aid and help get the bike picked up. Then Jared admitted he forgot to get a picture and could I just drop it again to make sure we had photos. We have photos so you know what happened.

Just one of many great rides with Jared. Justus was also with us. Jared on 'Mary Jane,' Justus on 'Red' and me on 'The Chief.' We met up along the PCH.