[Public] Weird!

[hillarygayle]

You wanna know something weird? I'm totally jealous of my dad's HOG! HOG, in the Cool Biker's Club Language, means "Harley Owners Group," and in this case we're talking about the Jonesboro HOG. I have no desire to ride a Harley, really, but it's what they DO with the HOG that is so much fun: they take "dinner rides" every Thursday, and then there are ones for lunch on Saturday & Sunday. Then, when there are Harley rallies or whatever, they all get together and go in a group. The riding groups are really well-organized; you have a road captain who rides in the front and then everyone rides in a perfect stagger formation behind them, very careful. Everyone has to have helmets, etc. They go to these rallies, and they go sight seeing. If there's something within driving distance, they consider that the only excuse needed; this weekend, Daddy & Kelsey (my brother, for those new to my journal) came back with photos of themselves at War Eagle Mill, Pea Ridge Civil War battleground, various places in Rogers, etc. They explore, and maybe you guys understand that even better than my own family members do, but that appeals to me on such a basic level I don't even have words for it. New things! Things I've never seen before! Things I can share with others! Other people who are excited about exploring and seeing new things, too! When I was looking through the pictures in that album, I was flipping out over all the neat things they saw & did. Bryan & Momma were kinda "meh" but Daddy was standing there, looking at all the pictures too, and he would nod with wide, understanding eyes when I talked about driving around seeing new things just to SEE them. [Aside: Oooo, I need to tell him about Terra Studios; it's over in the western part of the state with the hills & curves, and the HOG members will take any excuse to drive in the Ozarks.]

Anyway, I just thought it was neat to finally have explicit, obvious confirmation that my exploration tendencies came from Daddy. Maybe if both parents noticed that, they'll understand why I want to live in a big city (almost unlimited "new things" to explore every day), and maybe then they'll ease up on the guilt trip about us wanting to move to Dallas. They'll never ease up entirely, but maybe just a hair.

Probably they'll never be okay with the tattoo of the compass I'm still planning to get...