Midnight Pan

The day had been long and hot, the moon was rising now and the cool night air seemed like a welcome friend waiting for a ride. Sure seems like the days are getting shorter and the years go faster and faster with no slowing down in sight. Yesterday was almost just like the day before and today was about the same...

But this night felt fresh like like a new friend just waiting to ride for the first time. You remember those days, when you couldn't wait to finish work,hit the shower and just go....no need worry about where, just go! Now it is about plans, boring ass plans that if you think about them too much, you might just watch the tube and hit the sack instead... You know the feeling, that sick feeling inside that is screaming what the f*% am I doing wasting my life!!!

This night is different though, you can feel it, this one is special, like the new babe you met at the dealership, the one with the huge boobs and the beautiful smile, yeah you know the one. It has been a long time since you felt this way, like the old days when you used to jump on the bike at midnight just to hear the sound of the motor in the quiet of the night and feel the cold wind on your face.

You look out the window to make sure she is right where you put her just before the shower.......she is waiting in the bright moonlight, waiting like a dream lover, shining like expensive jewels in the bright light of the full moon. It has been awhile since you did the night ride..........too damn long for sure, somewhere before the days all started blending together, it was a common scene, but not anymore, now it is special.

The first kick gets a cough, the second one a kick back and the third................shit you know.........the third is always the charm for the old pan! After she roars to life you see the neighbors looking out their windows, yeah they know, they know it is a special night.......a night they will spend watching some stupid show on the idiot box before they check their email for the last time of the day..........hell yeah they know you won't be joining in the ritual of the masses, not this night!

Back to their couches to see if the crazy father son team are on the TV with the wild choppers, yeah you know the show! They live thru the lives of people on the tube. They have traded their lives for the comfort of a couch and the security of a boring life........ It's not their fault, we have been trained to do this, it is how it works these days, go to work, come home, eat, watch TV, go to bed........repeat,repeat,repeat!!!

When they hear the roar of the old panhead blasting past the house, they wish it was them on the old bike, but they have sold out to the couch! The old pan remembers the old days when men had to earn their rides, it wasn't so easy as just pushing a button with your tennis shoes on like now. Some guys remember, not many but .........some still have to earn their rides. The old pan will force you to wear boots, it will force you to remember!

Yeah, this night is special, the old machine is clean and shining in the moonlight, it has been here many times, not much lately, but in the past.... The old bike remembers all the legs that have earned it's ride, all the oil it has marked it's spot with.......yeah all the moonlight that has hit it's chrome! For one night the old bike and the biker become one in the moonlight dance, the sound of the fishtails reminds the world of possibilities outside of the couch. In the cool crisp air the sound of the old pan rules, it rules with thunder that can be heard for miles! This night the old pan wins, it wins the battle between adventure and monotony........

Tonight at the stroke of midnight the boredom is gone, the world is alive and a new memory is born for the old bike and it's current rider, there will be others after this one, the old bike has seen many... it will see more.......it is the bike who goes thru riders, not the other way around for the old bikes, they remember ..........the one's who chose adventure,even if it was for only a few Midnight Rides......... It has always been your choice, the midnight ride or the couch.......always will be your choice..............the old pan will be waiting like an old friend, ready at the drop of a boot for the one's who choose adventure in place of boring monotony...............................

copyright thewind 2006