I am surprised I lived through that first trip! I remember sitting perched behind my husband like a queen sun worshipper, relaxed on the interstate and trusting him to get us where we were going.
One particular day I got so relaxed that I fell asleep! I was awakened sharply from my nap by my husband slowing down and yelling over his shoulder at me. Apparently when I fell asleep my head and upper body slumped a bit to the side and threw us off balance. He felt the bike lean but didn't know what was happening, and as he was correcting the lean, he realized I had fallen asleep. I am lucky I didn't fall off and also lucky he didn't just boot me off and leave me on the roadside. The only thing that kept me on the bike was back of the nice padded seat of a Harley Electra-Glide. I tried really hard to stay awake after that day but didn't always do so well. I can fall asleep at the drop of a hat.
The other thing I remember about riding behind him that year was how nervous I was on the sharp curves of the Black Hills. We rode all the scenic routes that we could but I must have been a huge pain, with my back seat driving (literally). Whenever I noticed a speed zone before a curve, I looked at his speedometer and told him to slow down. Even when he was going the speed limit for the curve, I thought he ought to slow down. I was just not comfortable with those curves and the rocks on either side of me. There were also dozens, maybe hundreds of other bikers around us, passing us, getting close to us, and otherwise making me a nervous wreck! Now that I ride my own, I know how patient he was with me that trip. If someone were behind me harassing me, I would have had a thing or two to say to them about that. So if you are a woman riding behind, you better trust your driver completely and relax, but not to the point of toppling off the back of the bike after going to sleep.
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