The Key To The Highway

Day 1 Epic Summer 7/1/2010

As I worked to attach my belongings to Daimon in the garage, I felt like a bag lady that won a Harley at a casino. My bike was packed so heavily with crap that I may not have had a rear suspension at that point, but I did my best to have all the things that Mojo and I needed to travel comfortably for a couple of months. I watched him lick himself with no idea what he was in for, but I knew that as long as he was with mama, everything would be right in the world for him. I envied him at that moment, and not only because he could lick himself ...

We said our goodbyes to our friends that were there in the garage to see us off, I clipped Mojo into his seat, and belted out as loud as I possibly could, just as I started the engine, the words made famous by many blues artists over the years, "I've got the key ... to the highway ... long way to go ... I'm gonna leave here runnin' ... ain't comin' back no mo'" And with that, we were off.

Speaking of keys, I can't even begin to tell you the breathe of fresh of air I tasted when I realized that I had only one key as of that day. I had no house key, no office key, no garage key, no ID badge, no mailbox key, and no car key. My once jumbled mess of a keychain was reduced to the one that goes vroom vroom!

The whole ride that day was filled with moments of realized freedoms. I didn't care about my cellphone. Hell, it's turned off and in a bag. I wasn't waiting for any important emails. Aside from updating Facebook and letting people sort of know when I was due to drop in, I saw no need to worry about time. I don't wear a watch, and that didn't really matter anyway. I knew that the sun and weather would pretty much determine my daily progress. It's just me, Mojo, and the single key, and I was grinning ear-to-ear because of it.

Of course, leave it up to my hound to truly capture the emotion that day. We were on a country road in the Adirondaks, far away from any other people, at least that I could tell, and I saw a huge bird (hawk, eagle, I really don't know) soaring. I felt Mojo perk up behind me and I glanced in my rearview mirror. He had clearly gotten a glimpse of the bird too and he started following it with his eyes. As the bird dipped down and passed us overhead, Mojo let out this amazing, "Arrrooooooo!" I almost choked on that feeling. So I just howled with him. This, my friends, is a hell of a ride!