The Windowless Tourist

I highly recommend sightseeing by motorcycle. Especially if you are the passenger and your only jobs are not to make any sudden movements, maintain your center of gravity, lean into the turn, and pay attention when you are stopping so you don't head butt the driver. Whoops...I have to work on that last one a bit...I get easily distracted. It only happened a couple of times, but I am sure it was highly annoying for Brian. He never lets on though.

We went on a motorcycle ride with our great friends, the Cole's, on Saturday. We went north along the East China Sea to the main city of Nago, turned inland through some tiny towns and jungle, and returned home along the Pacific Coast. Total time, with lunch and photo ops, 6 hours. It is a small island, but beautiful. I have traveled north before, but only by car. It is completely different on the bike. You see, hear, and smell all the details you miss when you are boxed in by car doors. The East China Sea was beautiful, right out of a travel brochure. Crystal clear! The water was calm and varigated in color, ranging from emerald green to sapphire blue. I wish I would have gotten pictures of the East China Sea (I did get a few of the Pacific Ocean), but that was the first part of the trip and we didn't pull over as much as we did on the last part of the trip. That is when your bum and bladder demand more frequent stops.

The jungle and tiny towns were the greatest part. You can see everything. It was a peek into the ordinary lives of the Japanese people. I think the greatest thing was how fascinated Japanese children are with motorcycles. Ordinarily they are shy and reserved, but it changes when you are on a motorcycle. They wave from cars, stare and smile as you go by. We stopped at one point to stow away our reflective vests that are only required on base and a group of school children on an outting went by. Yes, they have 6 days of school a week. Normally they wouldn't notice us at all, but they said good morning. When we were able to say good morning back in Japanese. They waved, giggled, and said good morning over and over! It was so cute. I felt a little guilty because they were walking hand in hand in such an orderly fashion...I didn't want to cause any disruption. The teachers didn't look upset, they just smiled too.

It was a great day! The adults got to enjoy being relaxed tourists. The Cole's are a blast, I highly recommend them too. The girls stayed with a babysitter. They got to play with a puppy and collect seashells on the beach all day. Everyone was happy.

The uploading is superslow at the moment, so I will post some pictures tomorrow!