by John
(Renick, Mo)
Depending upon who you're with, taking a long distance motorcycle trip with other bike riders can be one of extremes: either heaven or hell! However, if reasonable people are diplomatic and do a little advance planning, people with widely varying interests, riding habits and personality quirks can all have a thoroughly enjoyable time.
For a number of years I've ridden with a group of people that have personality quirks that would have made Freud drool with envy. On one two-week trip, he could have examined every facet of humanity there is there is save serial killers and cannibals. I can get along with just about anybody and I often find it entertaining to watching the interaction between my friends. Here's a few of the more humorous examples. The six of us were in Texas heading for the quaint little town of Gruen when a torrential downpour hit us. Visibility was so bad that cars and semis were stopped along side of the road. Two of my buddies were close enough to see me take an exit ramp, where we sought refuge under a filling station awning.
Unfortunately, the rain was so heavy the other three didn't see us exit and continued on. We waited around for a good long while, but after the rain finally let up, we decided to go on to Gruen. Since the others knew that was our destination, we figured it wasn't a problem. We'd been setting in the saloon-dance hall for about an hour and a half when our three comrades came in looking every bit like drowned rats. It ends up they took the next exit and waited for us. Since a person in each of our groups had a cell phone, it shouldn't have been a problem finding each other. The problem was, our man Bob never turned his phone on once he was outside of Chicago because the roaming charges would have eaten up his monthly minutes. Thrifty Bob carried a phone on his belt for 3,000 miles with it being shut off for about 2,950 miles of that distance! One of the "lost group", Fuji, was absolutely livid after finding out he had been trying to call a turned off phone. It took about two days for him to finally cool off and speak to Bob again. Of course, the rest of us got a kick out of that! This past summer it was the same thing again, Bob carried his phone for 4,000 miles but wouldn't turn it on! I personally don't care that much for cell phones, but on last summer's trip, I took along one of the pre-paid jobs. The minutes are comparatively expensive, but $20's worth of time was more than enough to cover any possible emergency and call to home once in a while. One other very important thing, by all means make sure everyone has each other's cell numbers before taking off!
Back in the good old days when dinosaurs still roamed the countryside and cell phones hadn't been invented, we would decide on a predetermined place to meet should we get separated or lost in rush hour traffic. We'd agree on which highway we were taking out of town and then pick some place obvious, like the first 55 mph speed limit sign outside of town. And in case someone missed the sign because of a passing semi or such, we'd have a secondary spot like the first gas station on the right in the next town. This is still a good backup plan since a cell phone may not get reception where you happen to be lost at.
When it comes to the "leader of the pack", some people do a good job while others leave something to be desired. Henry falls into the latter category.
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