#day-12

[andybuison]

Mr T.

[glenux365]

[sederhanaku]

Paham

Untuk Tuan yang sering ilang-ilangan

Sesekali aku paham. sesekali ini menyebalkan.

Aku paham kau terburu-buru meramu harimu.

Aku paham kau punya banyak sekali kewaiban yang harus kau selesaikan.

Aku paham banyak kepentingan yang harus kamu perjuangkan.

Aku paham ketika kamu tidak memiliki banyak waktu untuk sekedar memberi kabar.

Ini menyebalkan ketika semesta seakan berusaha menjauhkan.

Ini menyebalkan ketika aku tidak lebih penting dari sibukmu.

Ini menyebalkan ketika 24 jam terasa sangat lama untuk mendapatkan kabarmu.

Ini menyebalkan ketika rindu memang benar-benar bisu.

Aku paham jika kamu tidak memiliki banyak waktu untuk memikirkan aku. Semoga kamu juga paham jika nanti aku tidak mencarimu lagi. Semoga ini tidak menyebalkan bagimu. Kau sudah terbiasa bukan ?

[piyushpatidar]

Day 12 - Canada Eh?

Knowing that our service appointment for the bike is at 1pm, we were a bit relaxed. But decided to be there as early as we could. Would be great if they took our bike in first and save us some time.

We started around 10am and reached the Detroit suburbs within an hour. We reached the town of Plymouth where the BMW dealership was. BMW of SE Michigan was what it was called. I introduced myself and the bike and they took us in quickly. Filled up the necessary paperwork. I asked how long would it be? He said, should be an hour and half. Nice! The guys were amazing. They took interest in our trip and were as helpful as they could be.

While we were waiting at the dealership, we met another motorcyclist who was also in for service. Jeff was getting his bike ready for his trip to Wyoming! He was from the Detroit area and runs an apparel business. He has been making shirts with logos and such since 11th grade! We were so jealous seeing his pictures and listening to stories of his adventures. Great to have met him. We checked out a couple of new motorcycles while we were waiting. Kuntal wants me to get K1600, while I’m thinking of F800GS first.

Around 12:30 our bike was ready. We were back from lunch. Just in time! Met the service specialist back in the garage who worked on the bike. Everything was perfect and we were ready to go. While we were fiddling with the GPS, he asked where we are headed to, and suggested to take the Mackinaw bridge up North if we had time. Or atleast through Port Huron into Sarnia using the Bluewater bridge. Ok! All set, we both were on the bike, and I see something on the dashboard. LAMPF! What the hell!? I checked the front lights. Everything looked ok to me. Asked the guy to take a look again. It was the small parking light in the front. He replaced it in a minute. I asked what do i owe for the bulb. He said you guys better spend it on something good on your trip. 👍😃 Thank you! The guy rides a GS too and we were talking about his tires. Lucky guy rides 15 mins on dirt for his daily commute, while rest is on the road.

We were now off towards Port Huron. We pretty much crossed Detroit to take I-94 to Port Huron. Traffic wise, Detroit area seemed not as bad as Chicago. Definitely felt as if the infrastructure was old/ less maintained. Roads in particular. It was the time of the day when you just want to get away from the traffic. Specially given the fact that we had lunch about an hour ago. After getting out of the traffic, we stopped for some water at a gas station.

Now here is the thing. We have been planning all this while to go to Canada to meet our friend Neelam and to see Niagara Falls. Before starting on the trip, I knew that we don’t need a Visa to go to Canada. We had our green cards and that should suffice. But damn, I didn’t realize that we might need the passports as well. After all, we were traveling to another country. I checked the Canadian immigration websites. Of course they mention that you only need your green card. But another section of the site says you need your password as well. What the hell! We were kinda disappointed. But then we thought, we are on a trip where we are not planning much anyway. We don’t know where we will be at the end of the day. So what if the Canadians turn us away. We will just turn around and plan something else 😊. And that’s not it. We also need to come back to US. What if we are able to enter Canada, but while coming back we need our passports? Oh well, we'l ask our friend to overnight deliver us our passports to Canada. We will probably get more time to spend in Canada that way 😊.

Too much thinking. Let’s just go. Will deal with whatever we have to. With that spirit, we headed to Port Huron. As we approached the town, we again started seeing farm lands. It’s a small town, hardly any traffic. There was some construction going-on on the freeway and so they had detours marked on the road. I was following my GPS, and ended up going the wrong way. Great! Turned around from the town residential area, and got back to the freeway. Then saw the sign again, Bridge to Canada. Excited, we went on in. It was a weird feeling while crossing the bridge, not knowing what’s going to happen. The road speeds went from being slow to dead slow. Finally went close to the immigration check post. No lane changes allowed. There was a car ahead of us so we waited. Within seconds the car started moving. After a few seconds I went in. It’s like a tool booth. I stopped the bike and turned off the engine. The lady officer asked for our IDs. Kuntal had her license so she was trying to take it from the back pocket of her jacket. She almost stood on the bike, and said let me get off the bike so I can take out my ID. The officer used her finger to point out and say, NO, dont get off. Meanwhile, I took my time to pull out the green cards from the inside of my jacket. Handed over. She checked the IDs. Helmets off. Standard questions followed. Purpose of visit? Where are you going? Why? How do you know your friend? Where do you live? How long will you stay? What are you carrying? Fire arms? Do you own any? Etc etc. All this while on the trip, I got so used to telling people that I am from California, when she asked where do you live, I kinda stuttered and said California. Kuntal said Milpitas, CA. 😊. The good news was she didn’t ask for our passports, and gave us the clearance to go ahead. Wore the helmets again, started the bike and we were through!

I was quite excited and almost wanted to dance while riding. We started to look for the welcome sign. It’s customary to take pictures. What the hell! No welcome to Canada sign! That’s disappointing 😕

From here, everything changed to km and km/hr. I changed the units in my GPS as well. Excited we also messaged Nilam that we are through. Facebook tumblr pictures etc. The speed limit slowly went up to 100kmph. I wasn’t sure how people drive here. Do they follow the posted limits or higher than that is the norm? There was hardly any traffic. Pretty much farms everywhere. No big towns around. We went in to a gas station to fill up. Both of my credit cards didn’t work. Dang! I went in to see the cashier. Turned out to be an Indian guy. Was talking in Hindi and Punjabi with another customer. He said, just use the pump to fill the gas and then come back to pay here. Okk! In the meantime, Verizon sends me a message saying that around $50 was charged to my account for roaming etc. Arghhh… Airplane mode from here on.

We then decided if we should go to Neelam’s place or to Niagara. Both were about the same distance. Ended up deciding on Niagara Falls. It was about 300km. So almost a 3 hour ride. On our way we stopped at a Denny’s/ Gas station for restroom break. Er, bathroom break. While we were getting some snacks, a guy was waiting outside in his truck, checking our bike. When we went out, the guy talks to us. Older guy, very mellow. He rides a Harley. He was excited to know about our trip. Talked about local stuff. Stergis. He talked about this place too. Same as the guy we met at the BMW dealership. I need to check it out. While having the conversation, i also got the Eh! 😊.

Back on the road, and it was drizzling all this while. Not soaking us or anything, but a few light showers. There was this one spot though, where we saw the rains hitting hard ahead on the freeway. We pulled over at the exit, and I started putting on my rain pants and jacket liner. Damn, it started hitting hard just when I was almost done wearing stuff again. On the road, it was almost a white-out for a few minutes. Everyone slowed down and put on their blinkers. I didn’t get wet, but my gloves were soaked. Kuntal got a little wet. Few miles ahead and no rains at all. Wow. We were riding in that kind of weather. Even after that, we got a few showers, not as bad as this one, and it didn’t last long either. Feels like the rains in Bombay.

It was a long ride to Niagara Falls. The half wet condition was making us specially uncomfortable. Booked a hotel using Hotel Tonight. I think we got the best deal yet. It was a $200 or so but we got it for $50 something. 2 free drinks. Perfect hotel, with all the amenities we needed.

We freshened up and then desperately needed food. Found Indian food. Can’t beat Indian food when you are really hungry. We walked to the restaurant. Too long of a walk actually. We weren’t sure what kind of food we would get. Turns out that it was one of the best Punjabi food we had so far. First bite and the word “Dhaba” came out from me. Just what we needed! On our way back it was almost 9:30. I insisted Kuntal to ride on the Ferris wheel to show her the Niagara Falls. At least the night view today. Short walk back to the hotel, and sweet dreams.

It’s July 14th. Meeting friends tomorrow…

[tyasintia]

Bibirmu

Untukmu, lelakiku.

Apakah Kau mendengar debar jantungku disaat pertama kali kau menyentuh bibirku dengan jari telunjukmu?

Aku masih ingat dentuman irama jantungku kala itu.

Dentuman yang sama tercipta saat deru nafasmu terasa ditelingaku.

 Kecupan itu.

Kecupan hangat yang terasa begitu manis.

Tak terlupakan.

 Sebut saja aku gila.

Dengan mudahnya menyambut bibir itu dengan pasrah.

 Bibirmu bibir yang memabukkan.

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