Chapter 5

The damn phone rang at 6 AM. I wanted to ignore it, but Marty was all over it. I mean this was an adventure to Marty. He didn't understand that it was just a job to me. I was going to work like hell not to pee on his parade, but there were no guarantees. I doubted that I could ever make myself believe that it was the trip of a lifetime for me.

Marty went to arrange for the pickup of the bikes while I took a shower. I spent ten minutes scrubbing my ass and my hair. After that shower, I took a look at my pile of clothes. I had clean panties, but nothing else at all was clean. I had often worn the same fatigues for several days when we were running a convoy in the mountains, but never had I taken a hot shower and put on dirty clothes. It had always been wake up dirty and just start a new day. It was all part of the 'Play It as It Lays' philosophy of the field. I smiled into the mirror and thought I have only been a year away from it, yet here I am turning my nose up at clothes that had only been worn one previous day. I felt as though it was going to be a long way to California.

When I opened the bathroom door, Marty was pacing. "Take it easy, Marty, we don't have a schedule to keep." I said with a smile and hoped he understood that it was all in fun.

"I know, I just can't wait to get going. This is like my one last great adventure."

"Then damn it, don't rush through it. It's going to be over too soon anyway, so just let it happen. Don't try to make it happen. You set it in motion, now let it have a life of its own."

He looked out the motel's second story window at the view of the parking lot. "How come I'm twenty years older and you are smarter?"

"Because you are really thirty years older, and I'm a woman. That math works out so that I'm still more mature." I broke up laughing and so did Marty.

"I'm not seventy yet," he stopped and seemed to be lost in thought a second, then added, "But it won't be long for sure, this is the last great adventure of my life. I just can't wait."

"No, there is one more big adventure. You still have to transition." He looked confused but for only a second.

"Into what?" he asked.

"I have no idea, but it is into something. I have to believe that," I replied.

"Yes, I guess we all do."

He looked lost again, so I said, "But if we don't get a move on, they might charge us for another day." He smiled broadly and began carrying things to the motel storeroom. From that locked room, the manager/owner allowed us to recover the bikes and small trailers.

After all of Marty's rush to get started, I was surprised to see him pull into a roadside diner only a hundred clicks or so from the motel. I pulled into the same automobile parking space he occupied. "What's up?" I asked, once I got the lightweight motorcycle helmet off.

"Breakfast. One thing I learned working on the farm all those years was that you pack carbs and protein first thing in the morning. Lunch is light and cool, but breakfast and dinner you have to pack it in to stay energized."

"Marty, we ain't plowing, you know." I could see my diet going all to hell.

"If you don't do like I tell you, then you are going to be sorry," he flashed that knowing grandfather smile on me.

"What'll you have?" the waitress with the really badly bleached hair, asked.

"I want eggs, sausage, grits, toast, and lots of coffee," Marty said.

"Me, I want eggs, sausage, hash browns, and toast." I smiled over at Marty. Might as well at least start out playing along. It took about twenty minutes to eat and drink three cups of coffee. I went to the ladies room before we left, but I knew that coffee would be coming out for hours.

Once we finished breakfast and Marty paid the bill, we went into the parking lot. The bikes started right up, so I followed Marty out of the parking lot. He turned us away from Myrtle Beach proper.

We were between towns when I could wait no longer. I squeezed the black rubber forced air powered horn. It was loud enough so that it caught Marty's attention. He slowed enough so that I could pull up beside him. I motioned for him to stop.

"What?" he asked.

"Wait right here, I have to pee. Too much coffee." I set the kickstand and walked from the highway into the woods. Yes, I know how to pee with my pants more or less on. Too bad women can't pee standing up. I personally have had all kinds of rashes from the nature around me. Everything from flea bites to oily plants that create mild rashes on the skin. We won't even discuss yeast infections. In twenty-two years, I had peed in the woods more than a few times, so I didn't blink an eye when I walked into the woods. Marty just smiled when I returned. He was all pleased as if he personally had something to do with it.

Marty's route took us a little inland. We rode about five hours then stopped at a convenience store for microwave sandwiches. There isn't anything that won't kill you, much worse than those damn sandwiches from the refrigerator section, especially after they have been heated in a microwave oven. I knew then what Marty meant about packing in food in the morning and again when we stopped for the night.

Food on the road was terrible. I decided right then I was going to try to go with fruit and peanut butter crackers for lunch. Hell, maybe even a candy bar for a treat.

During the afternoon, I saw some beautiful scenery as we rode along the back roads of South Carolina. We tried to stay on main roads, but not controlled highways. It was a challenge, but fortunately that's what GPS does best.

When we finally pulled into an 80 year old concrete block motel outside Hamptonville, SC, it was after five PM and I was worn to a frazzle. We checked in and then emptied the trailers into our room. The one room had worked out so well, that we decided to just go with it. Marty was so cute trying to talk me into it without sounding like a dirty old man. Hell, if he had been a dirty old man, it might have appealed to me even more. Not that it didn't already appeal to me, since I would be a better bodyguard if I was actually in sight of the body I was supposed to guard.