Motorcycles / Music / Quiet Desert

I never thought I'd say this , I'm sick of the sound of motorcycles ! Bike rally in town this weekend , probably some of the most disrespectful , obnoxious dipsticks I've ever run across . The majority were trailered in and immediatly had to fire them up and make sure their straight pipes weren't clogged , since then a constant barrage of people who don't know how to ride , seldom ride [except on weekends or some event ] , couldn't do a long distance ride if they had to , a lot of them being over served or self medicated and thinking they are now ready for the Baja 1000 . It's no wonder people in general have a bad attitude about motorcycles , the display that I've witnessed so far is pretty poor advertising for bikes and bikers. Do they spend money ? Yes. Is it worth it ? The jury is still out on that ! I do have one bit of wisdom for these yahoo's : LOUD PIPES DON"T SAVE LIVES . Nor do they improve the performance by much , particularly on Harley's , good riding habits and proper maintainence will do far more for overall performance and reliability than a set of straight pipes .One thought I had was to make a recording of an engine with straight pipes running up and down through the gears and put it on one of those small recorders you could stick in your ear and have all the noise you want ! Keep the stock pipes on the bike and have your distraction too ! Just a thought . As my old Master Chief in the Navy used to say " Those amatuers will kill you ." Enough on that.

The other happening is the music festival , an ongoing event that draws a whole different group of people . As much talent as you can imagine with all different types and styles represented , from campfire songs to blues and blue grass and  some rock and roll. I've listened to several different gatherings and was impressed by them all . Good musicians and song writers , with some great stories to tell . As an added feature they tend to be Very laid back and really enjoy what they are doing .
A great thing about hanging out in Terlingua is you don't have to sit and put up with anything I've mentioned above , you want quiet ? Just get up and drive a few miles out of town towards Alpine ,  pick a road or head out to Terlingua ranch and presto-chango you are in such quiet , you can hear your heart beat ! The last couple of nights I watched the full moon come up over the mountains , with the air so crystal clear you feel like you could reach out and touch that big old moon ! Last night after the yahoo's quieted down about 3AM I went out and laid on the picnic table to look at the stars and observe that moon for awhile. The magnitude of space really closes in with little or no ambient light , it makes for quite a display . The only other times I've seen or felt like this were when I was far out to sea  away from any land mass and the only sound was the ocean slipping by . At the risk of sounding metaphysical it chases away a lot of demons and worries about everyday life . It has certainly made me feel a lot better ....