The Trials and Tribulations of The Booger : Vol 4 "The Wild Booger Rises"
Cards on the table...I had already brought Azæzelle (real name, I named her, Hebrew "During the late Second Temple period, Azazel came to be viewed as a fallen angel responsible for introducing humans to forbidden knowledge, as described in the Book of Enoch." ~Wiki) on the highway and by mistake none the less. As I had spoke about earlier on the state office complex and how neat a place it is to be able to teach both riders and drivers it can also be somewhat of a confusing place if you are paying more attention to the person you are teaching and less on where you are going. The place has like 4 different ease of access ramps to get directly on 3 interstates and 1 highway. While there are signs and marking often you can find yourself headed down a ramp and the only way to go is forward. I was obviously in that state we have all been in at one time or another where you are in the cold lull of engine braking and calculating what you exactly plan to do, the engine winding down like a timer in Jeopardy awaiting your response. I did what I do in almost all of those situations and grabbed a handfull of throttle and said to myself "F-it, this is happening whether you want it to or not. Do what you always do but do it better." Went a little something like this while rolling down the vacant but guardrail imprisoned stretch of pavement leading up to the big 270 degree ramp of I90 North...
"HEY!! YOU HEAR ME?!?!?"
~"Yeah Dada"
"Hold on tight and don't do any wiggles. OKAY???"
~"Why?" ::This little chick always need a f@$king reason as if me saying it isn't enough::
"Because we are about to go really fast and get on the highway. It's going to be really loud and we might not be able to talk."
~"Oooh the highway? I like the highway. CAN WE GO TO MAYMAY AND RAYRAY's?!?!?!" (my mother and sisters that live in Plattsburgh on Lake Champlain)
"No honey, I NEED YOU TO HANG ON TIGHT. Hug me."
~"No, I have my handles. I like those better they don't hurt my hands."
At this point I am pulling down the big ramp turn and not about to argue as I'd rather focus so I relent. Most likely murmuring something along the lines of "Hang on, just hang on tight." I had found myself on a ramp heading North where-as we live south and the biggest and "most dangerous" interchange in NY is located, I87xI90 so I pretty much just pulled the boots up and figured out a way to get the heck out of there. I90 to Crossgates Mall road was a sure bet while if I exited into I87 North it would be quicker and lead us in a better direction. This time I decided to take the safer bet and just get the hell out of there. We survived, nothing major, nothing minor, nothing really just me being not mentally ready for the undertaking and getting all worked up for nothing.
We got back home and were digesting that ride as it was very early on in her "career" and what I got from her was that she though it "looked cool" and that "cars were really close to us, I liked that". I brushed all that aside and did not really think about it much after that, she's new and she's taking everything in for the first time. I bring girls out a lot that have never been on a bike before and they always say the same thing about how everything looks different in a car and when you are on a bike you get a better sense of the speed and what is all around you. I call it the "fishbowl effect" like a car is a "room" and you are just looking out the windows but on a bike you are really there to look at it with your eyes. I took it for that experience and thought nothing more about it.
Fast forward a month or so...
It is still summer vacation for her and the weather is still quite hot. At this point we are pretty much leaving before rush hour in the city, getting out and then "accomplishing" a nice country ride to see some nature as I wanted to focus on the aspects she is engaged most with. I had set plans to get her from school on the 4th of July and head north to see my mother and sister as Plattsburgh is a lot of fun on Independence Day and our balcony porch overlooks the bay where all of the hub-bub and fireworks are set off. We lord-the-masses-from-up-high people watching everything unfold on the streets and sidewalk below like the Emperor does a gladiator fight. It's a really neat place to be in a few instances in that town and my kid has been 110% about it every year. The only holiday she likes more is Christmas for the presents but she has made comments suggesting that we change Christmas over to the 4th of July so there can be parades and fireworks AND presents. I love her sense of efficiency but I explained to her that ice cream and tacos are both good. When you put ice cream on a taco it makes both bad. Separation of personal property and state is necessary for a government and its people to coexist successful...oops wrong forum.
Anyway, she has been all about the 4th of July since day 1. She was at the fireworks in the Capitol (with ear-pro) when she was a 1 year old and it's a big time of year for her.
This time I planned out a route to head north and get away from all of the ruckus of the city and ease our way onto the highway after all the traffic died down far north. She had already been on the bike for hours at a time and I was fully confident that even if it took us two hours to head the back way up the Mohawk and Hudson rivers, well past Saratoga and into Warrensburg so that we could get on I87 where it is calm and I would have a good chance to explain to her what it was going to be like and to prepare myself for a good hour+ of our "Trial By Fire". A chance to put on warmer clothes for the wind and just have a little pow-wow before the slab run. We could make a stop for ice cream at Stewarts and get her nice and awake for her leveling up quest and venture into the realm of taking a trip, albeit small like her, on a motorcycle. We had ample time leaving at 5pm as the fireworks didn't ever start till at least 9:30 and it's only 160 miles. I packed EVERYTHING we could possibly need on the bike during the day while she was at school and had done all of my due diligence, now we just had to hope the weather was going to cooperate. Hope.
We both laugh about those military "challenges" when telling old stories.