The World

 I ride, that's what I do. I love it; my favorite thing in the world! I love my bike; my other favorite thing in the world. Sunday, 2/20/2011, I rode with The Chaney Gang to the world. Oh yes, we rode to THE WORLD!

 In the biker community, when you ride with a group of folks you don't know, it's different than say, being stuck in an SUV with 5 other people for two hours with no stops. You're not with the guy who farts incessantly or that bitchy woman who won't shut the **** up. No, none of that, you are on your own ride. Just you and your passenger; if you happen to bring one. It makes for a great day and better friends. Think about it, in the car with two people you do know for a few hours has it's awkward moments. Traveling in close quarters with some you don't could make for a miserable trip. We've all been there. I think that's why bikers are...Bikers! 

 Women always have to pee and bikes need gas. It's a rule. So,we pit frequently. You get to know one another at each stop. It may be sharing a traffic story or scooter malfunction that happened along the way. (And yes, I had my yearly malfunction on the Chaney ride; my saddle bag popped open in 75mph ass heavy traffic; at least I didn't drop the bike this year). We mantasize over the chrome on our scoots. We trade money saving tips. The more we talk the more we get to know one another. 

 Our right foot would land in the Vicksburg National Military Park. This is an awesome place. It has an aura about it. Every time I visit I get a feeling as if the park reaches out and touches my soul as I ride past the fortifications and trenches. A bike backfire sounds like a 50 .caliber shot from 149 years ago, the bullet whizzing into the future past my ears.

We soldiered past the monuments and toured the  U.S.S. Cairo. That mighty ironclad gunship; the Union vessel that was going to be the final solution to Vicksburg met it's match on the Yazoo river. The first gunship in history to be destroyed by electrically detonated torpedoes. Now preserved for all to see, this impressive beast is still a marvel of human ingenuity.

As we sat on the wall of the Cairo museum, we met another one of our two wheeling brothers, The Park Ranger. He was a cool dude, Slay is his name look him up if you go.

Bikers have to eat. It's the other thing we love to do; well that and drink! So across the Mighty Mississippi River into Cajun Country we haul ass to our feedery. I had no idea where we were going. When I go with the Chaney Gang, I don't ask questions, I just go for the ride and enjoy. We take an exit off I-20 and less than a quarter mile, next to a rail road track, sits a metal shack with a gravel parking lot full of bikes. This, this ramshackle shed, is our eathouse...holy shit, this could be very ugly.

(drum roll)

My Friends I give you

THE WORLD

  Inside this metal building, with it's unfinished, untaped sheetrock walls; all of them scrawled with thousands of names and verses of other bikers before us, is our food. Damn fine food at a damn fine price! Hamburgers $4.25, add cheese; another quarter. Fried mushrooms, onion rings cheese sticks, Kabobs; all the trappings of a good burger joint. The main course, the big reason they probably call this place 

THE WORLD; ribeye steaks!! Oh yes!! Up to 16oz and at least an inch and a half thick! 

My Lord, this is THE WORLD!! 

 Beer stacked along the walls, pool tables in the back, NASCAR on T.V.! It's Biker Heaven! No Frills, No Bullshit. Just Food, Beer, Friends and Fun. That's all we need on a perfect day like this one. Old friends talking about rides past, new freinds planning a ride to come. I watched as people filed in and out of the front door. Biker buds greeting with a hand shake and the bro hug. Women with the big hugs and kisses. Not what you would expect if you were just driving by in your cager. No, you'd think we were sacrficing sheep in here, not hugging like them! 

 We laughed, ate and drank beer for a while till the bills came. It was time to leave THE WORLD. Like little kids, we all made sure we hit the can before we left. We all shuffled out, heads bowed, none of us wanting to go back to the Real World we knew we had to face come Monday. 

 We saddled up, left THE WORLD and rode home.