A Harley Motorcycle

Bryan, my son, and I did get in our ride. In the afternoon after it started getting a little hotter than I like, but we kept moving. In and out of the shade and up and around the hills down into the lush - and cooler - small valleys on the way toward Miguel Pereira.

This road’s asphalt and since it’s pretty new hasn’t gotten totally trashed by the big trucks. There’s a tendency down here to skimp a little on building the road bed, so the durability under load is kind of iffy. Plus the torrential rains, mudslides and mad jungle growth crowding in from the sides, all make riding a changeable experience from day to day on the same road. I won’t even mention the negative banking on some curves.

It was great to wind it out up and around some of my favorite hills. And even better with Bryan leaning into the curves with me. We rode out to our Sitio - a 15 acre place we have in a bairro of Miguel called Cilandia. It’s gorgeous, hilly with lots of jungle. Actually more jungle at the moment than we’d like, but we’ve been a little hard pressed lately and haven’t been able to take care of it like we should. It has a very old main house which is in the process of disintegrating piece by piece. It’s going to need to be torn down down soon. So we wandered around a little - couldn’t get too far thanks to the overzealous growth that hasn’t been hacked back in quite a while. But, it’s a peaceful, green place.

Now came the ride for ice cream. Back down the dirt road and off toward Vassouras and the hand-made ice cream place. This may have been Bryan’s favorite part. He had Milho Verde - Green Corn ice cream — I know that sounds very strange if you’ve never had it, but it’s absolutely delicious. Smooth and rich with a great flavor. I went for the mango this time since it’s more a sherbet and not quite as sweet and filling.

All in all a great afternoon and last night some friends came over and we had pizza, sushi and sashimi. Yes folks, this small town in the interior of Brazil actually has a sushi restaurant. And we had a cake, too, since I got another year older at midnight. (Don’t care for that part, but the rest of it was good).

Next weekend, or maybe Friday - I’ll see if Stephanie - my daughter, will tear herself away from the computer long enough to feel the wind and the road.

Rick