May Day...

 

When I turned the page on today's cat calendar, Joan said, "May Day."  Of course, she was saying that because it is the 1st of May.  As a former pilot and boat captain, when I hear "May Day," I don't think of gift baskets and dancing around a pole... no, potential bad situations come to mind.

Typical late spring day here: warm, sunny, and breezy.  I think I'll get in a motorcycle ride before the wind pipes up.

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Out for a ride, and an "Oh, shit!" moment.

No, no one pulled out in front of me.  As I was heading off our island, our bridge was out, so I got to wait for a couple minutes...

I was tentatively planning on riding inland, but I could see the traffic on the causeway was light; the SSE wind would make it a crosswind while riding across the causeway, but it hadn't built, yet.  So, a right turn and onto the causeway.  A beautiful morning, the water is a nice shade of blue, with whitecaps just starting to form on the bay.  Traffic was very light as I rode up Gulf Blvd.

I decided to take a cruise past my favorite mural: the Wyland Whaling Wall on the sides of the SPI Convention Center.  Such a pretty morning, I stopped to get a good profile of the CTX with the stock seat on it...

To my eye, the bike looks more sleek with that seat.  Stepping back a bit, I could see just a piece of the Whaling Wall beyond the greenery...

I decided on another lap around and a photo stop at the wall...

I turned off the main drag through town to see how the road construction was going on Laguna Blvd, the road closest to the bay (Laguna Madre).  It has been torn up for over a year, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the portion to the north now looked like Gulf Blvd, with two lanes and a separate bike/walking lane.  Looks nice... until it didn't... the portion in the middle is still tore up and gravel.  Back to Padre Blvd.

Rolling back onto the causeway, the wind had built - more whitecaps on the bay, and the wind gusts were moving me a bit.  And then, the "Oh, shit" moment.

No, nothing that threatened life and limb - as I was starting up the raised part of the causeway, I could see a seagull out of the corner of my eye.  I flinched, expecting impact.  I could hear the sound of his wings flapping wildly over the engine on the bike and wind.  Pretty sure, the bird had more of an "Oh, shit" moment than I did... not to be overly graphic about it, I was glad I had the face shield closed on my helmet.  Bird excrement.  On my helmet, my jacket, and the bike.  Now, it was my turn to say, "Oh, shit!"

Nothing I can do about it until I get home and can use some Clorox Wipes to clean things up.  As I came up to the bridge to our island, the stop gate came down - looking east, I could see a barge coming, so this is going to be more of a wait...

After a few minutes, the barge got close...

And his turn through our bridge opening...

Followed closely by a Homeland Security pursuit boat...

With 4 big outboards across the back of that boat.  Now, the wait for the bridge to swing closed.

Back home, I got the Clorox Wipes and went to work cleaning the bike, my helmet, and my jacket.  It was fresh, so it came off easily.  Just before putting the bike away, my neighbor Jack (who rides a Harley) came by walking his little dog (named Harley).  We had a good mostly-motorcycle visit. 

With a good ride in, I can now take on my day.  I sat down to write this post and Rufus jumped up on the chair, giving me a firm good-morning head-butt.  He turned his head towards my shoulder, sniffed, and did the "open mouth cat sneer"... a good portion of the bird excrement hit me in the shoulder... the jacket has some mesh in that area... Ruf could obviously smell the remnants, even though there was nothing to see.  Time for a shower.