And every year they come.....

I heard them quite a while before they passed my place. They come every year, just like the migratory  birds. They pass my house in waves of probably 30 bikes to start, most with a double rider, each wave around a minute apart. There were more this year.....about 6 waves of them, the last waves more sparsely numbered. The rumbling from their powerful engines vibrate the floors of your home and you can shut your eyes and almost picture a gigantic herd of wildebeest thundering through your neighborhood.  Anything that numbers over a hundred can be quite intimating, no matter what it is.

They go to a gathering at a house halfway around the lake from me.  I've been here for forty years and they come every single year....for Memorial Day weekend. During this ceremony they honor their fallen comrades, among other things. I've gone past the house before when everyone had arrived and the event was in full swing. I honestly don't know where they put everyone as the house is just a regular house on a double lot.....but they manage.  And they never cause any problems. I suspect any troublemakers are handled within the club....privately and quietly.

There is a lot of fear that goes with motorcycles and their riders but the stories you hear are not always fact. These group of people can be very compassionate and generous to a good cause. My ex and I had road bikes (albeit much smaller than these huge hogs) and we rode for a couple years but were never into any gang other than friends and relatives who also enjoyed riding. He later opted for motocross racing and that was just too much for me so I chose the role of spectator.  We met a lot of biker people who are absolutely wonderful.  Yes, you have your bad apples no matter what.....but they aren't ALL bad.

Isn't that true of most everything.

And getting off topic here a bit.....as I left work on Friday I could hear calls of "Happy Memorial Day" being said to each other from the employees.  On the ride home I got to thinking.....HAPPY?  This is an oxymoron if ever there was one. I've NEVER had a HAPPY Memorial Day.  It's always been a day of sadness for me.....missing people who I loved and are no longer living. Maybe there is something wrong with my thinking......but like I told you before, my mind races in many directions.

Have a SAFE holiday.