Let's Ride

Chapter 15

Later that morning, I called some of my friends in Ladies of Harley and was able to borrow a pair of very worn but serviceable chaps, a rain suit with some holes that were easily patched, we paid a visit to Deseret Industries for another pair of jeans (some quite nice Calvin Kline's) some boots and a BYU "hoodie." I showed Jenifer the "sights" such as there was, had lunch at a Chuck-a-Rama, then back home where I checked the roadmaps. Later, Greg came over on his Road Glide, "It's all fueled up, oil changed, he took some pictures of Jessica and I by the bike for our H.O.G. newsletter, the chapter director had already called my this afternoon about my trip. Greg and I walked Jessica through on how to ride, the use of the com set, and a few smaller details about proper riding. Greg had even bought her a Saddleback Harley Davidson women's tee shirt as a souvenir of Logan Utah. Jessica was quite overwhelmed with all our efforts and visibly moved, "We're glad to do this Jessica, we don't want you to get messed up with protective services, things don't always turn out right with those people, but you have to promise me you'll really make an effort to understand your mom and not run off again."

It was burgers on the open grill for supper, I called Jessica's mom to let her know that we would be leaving tomorrow morning around six, and that I would let her know where we were every evening when we stopped. That evening while Jessica was watching TV, Greg and I stood outside in the dark, and said our goodbye's, we kissed and hugged each other, "Gonna miss you babe," said Greg as he nuzzled my ear. "Umm, gonna miss you too, I call you every night to let you know where we are or if there's a problem with the bike." "Well you showed me that list of Harley dealers along the way, I'll keep my phone open at this end in case you need help or anything," said Greg. "Well, you ride safe babe, just pace yourself, you'll be OK." We kissed one last time, as he rode off on my Sportster, and I slowly went back inside.

Everybody was up at five, showers, a good breakfast leathers on, my stuff in the side bags, a kiss and hug to my dad, then we were off, I checked the coms to make sure we could hear each other, the early morning traffic was just starting to pick up, route 30 out to Riverside, then south on I-15/84. The first few miles was mainly Jessica adjusting to her seat and myself becoming familiar with Greg's bike. Lucky for Jessica, Greg's bike had a full backrest with a helmet storage box right behind it, plus full footboards. The coming day promised to be a nice one, the V-Twin was making a nice rumble as we rolled south, Jessica seemed to be enjoying the ride, soon we were passing Brigham City on the left. Around 7:30, we turned east stopping at a rest area for a pee break, and to walk around a little bit, I let Jessica borrow my camera, "Feel free to take pictures of anything that strikes you fancy as we travel, you can put them in an album later on as a record of our trip," She took a couple of pictures of the rock formations from the rest area.

Back on the road, Jessica would comment from time to time on the canyon we were traveling through, I began to notice that slowly as we traveled east, she began to open up, telling me of her life. We passed Evanston around 8:00, traveling around 70mph. Around 9:00, we stopped at Green River for fuel and a snack. Jessica was complaining about the helmet causing her head to itch, so I wrapped a bandanna around her hair, "This will keep your hair from itching," I told her. There were some other bikers coming in for fuel as well, we chatted for a few minutes about the road, they were headed west, to Salt Lake.

Around 11:30 we stopped at a rest area, near Elk Mountain, to stretch our legs, this is the one with the big bust of Lincoln looking down on the highway, it was in commemoration of the Lincoln Highway that followed this route back around the 1900's or the first transcontinental highway. We took each other's picture in front of the monument; mine to eventually become the desktop picture on my laptop. From what she told me, I gathered Jessica wasn't paying much attention to where they were, when she and her boyfriend came this way, because she spoke to me often of the passing scenery. At Laramie, we stopped for fuel, and a late lunch at Micky D's. While we were eating, she opened up to me a little more about her life, the usual thing, dad splits on them, mom has to work a low paying job (in this case, at Wal-Mart) to support the family, Jessica is troubled by the fact that she see's other kids at school having things he mother can't afford for her, this turns into resentment, anger, rebellion, and in Jessica's case, taking off with an irresponsible teenage boy.