One of my very good friends (Ellengrace) decided she wanted her birthday party at The Wine Crush in Long Beach. MapQuest gave me the directions so no worry, right? I jump on trusty Ruby because it's a beautiful afternoon and the evening's supposed to be just as nice.
So Mapquest tells me to take Shoreline Drive to Ocean to Cherry to Broadway. I'm not familiar with Long Beach so sounds good to me; however, as I veer right onto Shoreline Drive, a sign to the left of the lanes reads "Ocean." I cruise on pondering why I would take Shoreline Drive if Ocean is right there. About 10 minutes later, I was wishing I'd followed my instincts on that pondering. One HUGE flaw of Mapquest is it fails to take into account other activities that could impact the desired route --- in this case, it was the Gay Pride Weekend Concert on Shoreline Drive!!!!!
Okay, so picture this...Ruby Red Yamaha Raider with a guy riding along in a black leather jacket and long, blonde hair flying in the breeze motoring along at less than a walking pace with nothing but gays and lesbians walking on both sides. My heterosexual male mind immediately starts singing "Macho, macho man..." as I patiently ride along looking for the Ocean Blvd turnoff to get the hell outta this situation before somebody jumps on the back with me.
Ten minutes further into this ride, I learn that Shoreline Drive doesn't intersect with Ocean - duh!!! Shoreline Drive actually dead-ends at a park. You guessed it, the park where the bandstand is set up for the Gay Pride Concert!!! Now, I have the distinct privilege of riding back up the same street at the same snail pace past the same people I feared would jump on Ruby with me. Now I'm even thinking that it must look like I'm cruising for a date.
I am the Golden Boy though so of course, everything works out fine. I find a street to turn off on that leads me to Ocean, Cherry, then Broadway, and I finally make it to The Wine Crush for a wonderful evening with my friends; however, it was a much more memorable ride than I'd ever imagined when I first threw my leg over Ruby for the evening ride.
P.S. To any liberal-thinking people who may read this, let me quote the Seinfeld Show: "...not that there's anything wrong with that!"
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